


Point of No Return

by authordrawingmusic



Series: Falsettos College AU [2]
Category: Falsettos - Lapine/Finn, Falsettos - Lapine/Finn (Broadway Cast) RPF
Genre: Affairs, Bottom Whizzer Brown, Cheating, F/F, F/M, Feelings, Fights, Gay Marvin (Falsettos), M/M, Marvin (Falsettos) Being an Asshole, POV Whizzer Brown, Sassy Whizzer Brown, Secret Relationship, Top Marvin (Falsettos), What Are You Doing Whizzer?, What Was I Thinking?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-20
Updated: 2019-10-14
Packaged: 2020-09-19 05:01:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 38,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20325502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/authordrawingmusic/pseuds/authordrawingmusic
Summary: Whizzer and Marvin have been having an affair for nine weeks (maybe ten weeks).Whizzer is getting in way too deep.





	1. Our Dirty, Pretty Huge Secret

**Author's Note:**

> And so begins part 2 of my college AU series. Enjoy!

It has been a few weeks since the party. And despite Whizzers promise to Cordelia to meet up, neither of them had found the time. So finally, four weeks later they managed to meet up at a small cafe. Whizzer had already arrived and was waiting for the blonde lesbian. Finally, he spotted her. There she was... holding hands with a girl who looked like... Charlotte. Oh fuck.

Charlotte had already seemed suspicious of Marvin's and his sudden getting along over the past few weeks. He couldn't even pretend he hasn't been having sex with Marvin for the past few weeks. Charlotte was too smart for that. Whizzer began walking towards them and could already spot his best friend's apologetic smile.

"Hi, Cordelia and... Charlotte," Whizzer said, giving Cordelia a suspicious look. "I thought we were going to talk by ourselves? Just you and me."

"Hi... I know. And it is going to be just us. Charlotte just said, she had some errands to run in the area anyways." Cordelia shrugged even more apologetically than her smile was. 

"Don't worry, Whizzer. I'm not going to stay around here. I can spare her for an hour or two. Bye, Delia", Charlotte said, standing on her tip toes to kiss Cordelia on the cheek. 

"Ew, affection. Leave this lonely, single, fabulous gay right here alone with that shit", Whizzer exclaimed in mock disgust. The two lovebirds chuckled.

"Bye, Char", Cordelia responded to Charlotte and waved her goodbye. Once Charlotte was out of sight, Whizzer wanted to attack her with a million questions.

"Hold on there, buddy. Let a lesbian in love breathe." Cordelia held up her hands to stop him. "At least buy me a coffee first."

"Fine. I will buy you coffee. But only because you're using my lines against me and I respect that", Whizzer said, putting a hand on her shoulder. 

"Yay!" Cordelia squealed and jumped up and down at her success. 

"Alright, now let's sit down. I need to know everything", Whizzer said. They both got themselves a cappuccino and sat down at one of the tables. "Now, come on Cordelia. Spill. The. Fucking. Tea!" Whizzer tapped on the table to punctuate his words.

"So, me and Charlotte have been dating." Cordelia began blushing.

"Fuck yeah!", Whizzer interjected. He'd just pretend as if Marvin hadn't already told him that. 

"She's so confident and hot and passionate, too. She's intelligent and shes studying to be a doctor! I'm so in love!" Cordelia was grinning from ear to ear. 

"I am so happy for you. Cheers", Whizzer held up his cup to cheers his best friend in celebration. 

"I know right?" Cordelia sighed in happiness. After a short silence she looked up at Whizzer. "So what about you? What's been going on with you for the past few weeks?"

Oh, you know, the usual. I've been screwing a deeply closeted guy. And he happens to not only have a girlfriend, but is actually best friends with your girlfriend. And no matter how hard I try to break things off, I decide against it, because I enjoy the fighting and fucking way more than I should. But he didn't say that. He couldn't tell her. He couldn't tell anyone. For pretty obvious reasons.

"Oh, nothing much. Classes. One night stands. The usual." Whizzer hoped to god his bluff was more convincing than it had sounded to him. 

"So there's absolutely noone?" Cordelia looked surprised. Shit. Shit. Shit! "Not even that Kevin guy from the party?" 

"God, no! Nope, I'm still the single pringle I have been since the day you met me." Whizzer smiled at her. 

"Right. Yeah, you're right. I just thought, that... Maybe you would feel good about going steady for once?"

"Wait, are you, Cordelia the hopeless lesbian, slut shaming me?", Whizzer quipped. 

"No! How low do you think of me? I guess I've been so happy in the short time I've been seeing Charlotte and... I just think you deserve someone who loves you for the sassy, petty queen you are. I didn't mean for it so sound... I shouldn't have told you... Sorry." Whizzer could tell how uncomfortable she was. 

"Oh no! It's fine. Dont worry. I like being single and ready to mingle." Whizzer said and winked at Cordelia. 

"And as long as you're happy it's all good, right?" She smiled at her friend. 

"Right, yeah." He was kind of happy with his life at the moment. Not that Marvin had anything to do with it. Whizzers phone buzzed, as if on cue. He looked at his lockscreen. Marvin. 

"Oh right!" Cordelia perked up. "I baked a cake and it rose and didn't burn!" 

"Now that's an amazing piece of news! I'm such a proud dad!" Whizzer put his hand lovingly on Cordelia's forearm. His phone buzzed again. 

"Whizzer, you're aware of how heterosexual we look right now, right?"

"How about we pretend to be a couple on an anniversary date to get a free piece of cake?" Whizzer offered. 

"I'd love a piece of cake. But this piece right here is taken", Cordelia said and pointed at herself.

Whizzers phone buzzed a third time.

"Alright. Uh, sorry, I really need to check my phone." Whizzer took out his phone and unlocked it. 

"Of course, go ahead!" 

All three messages were from Marvin. Whizzer couldn't suppress an eyeroll. 

"Come over." 

"Trina's not coming over tonight." 

"I'm paying for the food. You can get whatever you like on your way here." 

Dammit. The guy knew exactly how to get him. 

"Actually, I...", he trailed off and looked up from his phone to see Cordelia giving him a suggestive look.

"Have a guy waiting?", Cordelia asked with raised eyebrows. 

"Yep. Gotta go. Sorry. He's paying for the food after." Actually it was before, but she didn't need to know that. That is technically against one of his hookup rules. Never eat before sex. Too much like a date. 

"Wow. Sounds like you're moving on to sugar daddies." She now wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.

"Shut up", he said and playfully punched her arm.

"Now go. Don't keep prince charming waiting." Cordelia smiled.

"If one thing is for certain, it's that he's not a prince charming." Whizzer got up and put on his leather jacket.

"Right. Gentlemen were never your type." Cordelia joked. Oh, if she only knew how right she was.

"I'm leaving. Bye."

"See ya", Cordelia replied.

And so Whizzer made his way to Marvin's apartment complex and texted Marvin "On my way".

Whizzer knew he was being selfish. It was pretty evident just based off the simple fact that he was fucking a guy with a girlfriend. It was being incredibly unfair to Trina. Not to mention that Whizzer could have had any other guy who was single or maybe wasn't in denial about his sexuality. There was some work for his photography class to be done... But what the hell. Marvin was even paying for food. And he could use a distraction from his course work. He was really only going for Marvin because he was there. And literally asking for it.

Whizzer went to his favorite burger place and got his favorite menu for himself and Marvin. Let's see if the guy has good taste. He got to Marvin's place and got buzzed in. After the elevator ride - there was no need to get sweaty going up the stairs, considering there was strenuous physical activity waiting behind Marvin's door- he went up to Marvin's apartment and knocked on the front door. 

"Oh, hi. Took you long enough." That was how Marvin greeted him. There wasn't any venom in his words nor in his eyes. He sounded more playful. Whizzer had to suppress a smile. As much as Marvin was insufferable, fighting with him was fun.

"Oh, I was busy getting us the best burgers I could get us on my way here.

But if it bothers you so much that I'm lateI can of course just leave." Whizzer slowly turned around and pretended to walk away. Before he could take his first proper step away from the front door, he was pulled into Marvin's apartment by his collar. Whizzer blinked and found himself pushed against the wall next to Marvin's front door, which fell shut a second later.

"Oh hello there, Marvie. That's what I call a nice greeting", Whizzer took a step away from the wall and straightened out his shirt.

"You know how much I hate that nickname." Marvin shook his head and backed him back into the wall right away.

"We both know you love what I do much more than you hate me calling you that nickname, Marvie." He gave Marvin a suggestive look and then smiled.

"Now, hand over the money for the food and let's eat. We're going to need the energy."

"Give me the receipt. I'll get the plates." Marvin held out his hand.

"Oh no, you're not getting plates. I'll have to clean all the dishes, because you never do. We're eating off the wrappers." Whizzer gave Marvin the receipt and put the bag of fast food on the kitchen counter. 

"Now, you better be careful about what you say about these burgers. This is a test of how destroyed your tastebuds are from all of the horrible fast food and cheap beer you drink."

"So you're making me give you money just so you can insult my taste?" Marvin handed Whizzer the money with raised eyebrows. 

"I won't insult your taste if you say the right things. And if you say the wrong thing I would rather call it distaste." He handed Marvin his burger, fries and soft drink. "Now, let's eat." 

"Alright. I do have to admit", Marvin began and ate the last bite of his burger. "I'm impressed. These are pretty good."

"Pretty good?" Whizzer raised an eyebrow.

"You heard me", Marvin replied.

"If these burgers were just pretty great, what would that make my blowjobs?", Whizzer asked with a chuckle and stole one of Marvin's fries.

"You're as pretty as you're cocky.", Marvin said.

"I know. That's what makes me so charming." Whizzer gave Marvin a shove to his side with his elbow.

"You're also a french fry thief. Those fries are mine", Marvin added to his previous statement.

"You do know I bought those fries."

"But I paid for them." Marvin did have a point there.

"Maybe. But you think I'm pretty. So I can take as many fries from you as I like." Whizzer gave an overly innocent smile and tried to steal another french fry.

"Not if I have any say in this." Marvin grabbed Whizzer's wrist. This was getting interesting. 

"Well it's not like you can do anything about it." Whizzer snuck another fry with his free hand and tried to eat it, but Marvin caught his other wrist before he could manage to get the french fry anywhere near his mouth. That did stun Whizzer a little bit.

"Oh, hello there", Whizzer said.

"What?" A sly grin grew on Marvin's face. "You like that?"

"You like validation. I won't feed your ego any further." Whizzer wrestled his wrists out of Marvin's grasp. He rolled his eyes and got up.

"Where are you going?" Marvin sounded offended.

"To throw away our trash. And don't you dare make a trash joke about me", Whizzer said over his shoulder.

"What? Would that hurt your feelings?", Marvin replied in a patronizing baby voice.

"Oh, fuck off. You're just a lot less fuckable when you insult me. That's all. I feel like this all will be a much more pleasant arrangement for the both of us if you don't make yourself unfuckable to me." Whizzer raised his eyebrows. He was excited to see where this argument would go.

"If you think I'm so unfuckable, why dont you run off to one of your many other flings? Since you love waking up with guys you can barely remember, you might want to try that", Marvin spat. Oh, Whizzer wasn't going to let Marvin win that easily.

"You seem to forget that I dont stay overnight. I leave when it's over." Whizzer smiled a condescending smile.

"Oh, well that changes things. You haven't been doing to best job at leaving when it's over. What are you staying for then?" Marvin got up, beginning to go into fight mode.

"I'm hoping for you to pathetically beg me to let you fuck me again. That's what I'm staying for." This was getting out of hand.

"Last time I checked, it was you who was begging to be fucked." Oh, no. He was not going there. "What did you say? You said -"

"Not like it matters that I said it", Whizzer interrupted him. "What matters is that oh so straight Marvin got hard as a rock because of it. Yeah, that's right."

"Kid, you're getting into dangerous territory here", Marvin almost growled.

"Kid. Kid? I think it would be more fitting for you to call me Trina since I've been cleaning up after you ever since all of this started." That one seemed to stick. Marvin visibly deflated.

"You had to say her name, didn't you?" 

Marvin looked very small now as he sank back down to sit on the couch. He looked so lost... Whizzer almost wanted to walk over to him and comfort him. Whizzer could leave. He could take his jacket and walk right out that door. He could leave this mess that was Marvin sitting on his couch. He did walk over to get his jacket. But he didn't leave.He took out a box of cigarettes and walked back into the living room where Marvin sat, covering his face. Whizzer removed two cigarettes from the box.

"Here." He put one of the cigarettes to his lips and held one out for Marvin to take.

"You're not leaving?", the shorter man asked and looked up. His eyes looked red. Whizzer didn't know how to handle emotions from people he usually considered dickheads. Fingers crossed...

"Just take my cigarette", Whizzer insisted and Marvin took it.

"Thanks." Marvin smiled up at Whizzer.

"You're welcome", Whizzer replied.


	2. Falsettoween pt.1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Halloween and Whizzer and The Lesbians pick eachother's costumes for a Halloween house party they have been invited to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter is here! I really wanted to do a halloween chapter. It ended up being multiple chapters. So enjoy three chapters of Falsettoween.

It was when Whizzer, Charlotte and Cordelia went to their favorite coffee shop and saw everything covered in pumpkins and orange and purple decoration that it hit Whizzer. Shit.

"Guys", Whizzer stopped the two lesbians. He had completely forgotten.

"What is it? Whizzer?" Cordelia looked around. "Oh no. Shit!"

"What?", Charlotte asked.

"Exactly." Whizzer nodded and smiled bitterly. "God, I can't fucking believe it." Whizzer went to the booth he wanted to sit in and plopped down onto his seat of choice. Then the pouted.

"Will either of you two tell me what the fuck is happening right now?", Charlotte asked exasperatedly.

"Halloween is in a few days", Cordelia explained. Whizzer motioned in her direction as a means of agreeing with her.

"Yeah. That's why everything is decorated for Halloween. So?" Charlotte was still absolutely clueless.

"Whizzer loves Halloween. And he always does elaborate costumes", Cordelia explained further.

"Exactly. And I was so busy that I completely forgot." Whizzer was so mad at himself. Marvin had been occupying way too much of his brain space.

"Oh, I see." Charlotte nodded. "Well, then, you should probably start thinking about a costume."

"Yeah, I guess..." Whizzer thought.

"So, what or who did you want to dress up as this Halloween?", Cordelia asked. "We'll help you if you need it."

"Like fairy godlesbians?", Whizzer asked.

"Yes, like fairy godlesbians." Charlotte laughed. "So, what are your plans, stud?"

"Hmm.... I dunno. Since I don't have time for my usually elaborate costumes..." Whizzer sighed. "I guess this year I might go full on trash. Yeah, i want to have the trashiest, cheapest, most cliche costume ever."

"Oh my god, yes!" Cordelia was immediately on board. "Oh, I have an idea! You decide our costumes and we buy one for you to blindly wear for the Halloween party we've been invited to."

"Yes!" Whizzers mood immediately improved.

"Oh, hell no! I won't let myself be dragged into doing costumes." Charlotte shook her head.

"Awe c'mon, babes. Please? For meee?" Cordelia looked at her with puppy eyes. Just like Whizzer told her.

"I'm so proud." Whizzer whispered. Cordelia shot him a friendly glare.

"Cordelia..." Charlotte raised her eyebrows and looked at her girlfriend.

"Charlotte..." Cordelia innocently smiled at her and put her head on her shoulder.

Charlotte let out a deep sigh and rolled her eyes. "Fiiiine."

"Yayyyy", Cordelia squealed and hugged her girlfriend from the side.

"Buuuuut", Charlotte said, interrupting the other lesbian's celebration. "I get to have a say in the costume."

"Buuuuut that takes out all the fuuuuun", Cordelia protested.

"Delia?", Charlotte sounded exasperated.

"Charlotte, it's fine. You're getting the last word in your couples costume." Whizzer winked.

"Couples costume?", Charlotte asked.

Cordelia sighed, after which Charlotte relented. "Alright. A couple costume it is."

"Thanks, honey." Cordelia gave her girlfriend a peck on the cheek.

"Okay, I'm scared of our costume", Charlotte admitted.

"Nothing to worry about. I'm good with stuff like this." Whizzer gave her a reassuring smile.

"He is. I mean, look at him", Cordelia agreed with him.

"So, you guys have any idea about what you want to get me? Just a hint?"

"Hmmm... I think we might go for something like... vampire." Cordelia offered.

"Yeah, a gay, handsome, well dressed vampire. You're basically Edward, except you don't sparkle." Charlotte chuckled.

"Oh god, vampires are such an overdone costume." Whizzer cringed.

"Because it works and gets you sex", Cordelia said.

"Okay, you right. You right." Whizzer nodded in agreement. "Still, I don't want to be a vampire. Please. I'll wear literally anything else you pick for me. Just don't make me a vampire."

"Aaaanything?", Cordelia smiled devilishly.

"Yes." Whizzer sighed. "I feel like I'm going to regret saying this, but will I wear whatever you pick for me.

He definitely regretted what he said just a few days ago when he looked at himself in the mirror. They fucking didn't. He couldn't believe it. He wasn't sure whether he would have preferred being a vampire to this. They had really outdone themselves with this tacky costume.

He would have to step out of his dorm room in a minute and face his best friend and her girlfriend in this ridiculous costume.

"Alright, Whizzer, you can come out now", Cordelia sounded way too excited.

"I hate you so much right now", Whizzer shouted.

"But you appreciate the tackiness of it. I know it", Cordelia shouted through the door.

He faced the mirror and gave himself a pep talk.

"Alright, Whizzer Brown. You are going to go out there and have a fun night. You will go outside wearing this tacky as fuck sexy cop costume and you will slay." He turned and walked out his door.

"Oh. My. God", Cordelia whispered and Charlotte started laughing hysterically.

"Please, no photographs. A fashion icon needs their room to breathe." Whizzer himself had a hard time not doubling over from laughter. "Now it's time for you to put on your couples costume. And you're -"

"Not allowed to look at eachother because it would ruin the surprise. We know", they said in unison.

"You've said that at least five times, Whiz", Charlotte said and rolled her eyes.

"I absolutely hate that nickname with a passion." Whizzer rolled his eyes.

"We know", they said again in unison in a sing song voice.

"You know, I'm regretting that I didn't consider making you go as the twins from The Shining.

"Maybe", they responded, once again in unison.

"Go, get dressed now, you lesbians."

"We will." Charlotte looked at Cordelia suggestively.

"And no funny business in my dorm!" Whizzer held up his index finger threateningly.

"What are you gonna do? Arrest me?" Cordelia stuck her tongue out at Whizzer.

"Actually, I could. Well... I could cuff you to my radiator and party without you." Whizzer held up a pair of handcuffs with keys that had come with the costume.

"Delia, honey, I love you so much for that idea." Charlotte gave her girlfriend a peck on the cheek.

"Let's go!" Whizzer pulled the lesbians into his dorm room.

Charlotte looked in the mirror and admired her costume. "Alright, I like this."

"Guys, you look amazing. Charlotte, you need to let me do your hair and the look is just right", Whizzer said, feeling very proud if himself. "Cordelia, you can look in the mirror now."

Cordelia squealed when she saw herself in the mirror.

"Oh my god, Whizzer! This is amazing!" Cordelia turned to look at her girlfriend. "Char, you look so hot. I am so gay for you!" She stormed towards her girlfriend and kissed her.

When Charlotte caught her breath, she turned to smile at the scantily clad gay. "Whizzer, I'm so sorry. We made you a slutty cop and you made us a gay version of Sandy and Danny from Grease."

"Yeah. I mean, you can buy me my next few coffees as repayment", Whizzer smiled innocently.

"Deal", the lesbians said.

"Its getting a bit creepy now. Please stop." Whizzer laughed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked Falsettoween pt. 1!  
Tell me what you think!


	3. Falsettoween pt.2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Whizzer finds a guy to make out with, Mendel is a mess and Trina is a sweetheart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Falsettoween pt.2!  
Enjoy!

They had been at the party for almost an hour. Whizzer and Charlotte were getting his second drink and had people whistling after him at least five times. It was getting pretty obnoxious at this point.

"Okay, Whizzer, I just wanted to tell you three things. First of all, you are free to change into the backup costume I got you. Second of all, you won't like the costume. And third, if you want to, you have five minutes to get to the bathroom because Marvin is almost here." Charlotte grinned apologetically.

"What?", was all Whizzer could say. Shit. No, he didn't want to face Marvin in this costume. It was absolutely ridiculous. So, he asked and immediately regretted it. "What's the backup?"

Charlotte gave him the bag and simply said "See you in a bit, Mr. Cullen".

Whizzer was now in a much less slutty, but nonetheless tacky outfit. The lesbians had even bought a makeup set with fake teeth and blood. The costume was even worse quality than the first. That got him thinking. Whizzer decided to make the look at least a bit more wild by unbuttoning the top two buttons and painting fake bite marks on his chest and neck.He then rolled up the sleeves and added bite marks to his forearms.

After adding the fake blood to all the bites, he didn't add blood to the corners of his mouth. Not a hot look. He looked in the mirror and viewed his work. He was now a slutty vampire snack. He whipped his cape around and walked out of the bathroom theatrically. Back at the table with the alcohol, he got himself another drink. He shouldn't, since Marvin would be here any minute. But he really just couldn't help himself. And of course, speaking of the devil, there he was.

"Well, hi, Emmett Forrest. Got any sleep since 1992?" Whizzer winked at Marvin.

"Oh, Trina, sweetheart. Whizzer is here, too!" Marvin gave Whizzer a warning look. He hadn't even recognized her with the wig and bright pink outfit on.

"Hello, Whizzer. So you're a vampire tonight. Mendel is somewhere at the snack table wearing a skeleton costume." She was dressed as Elle Woods in a pink business outfit and smiled openly at Whizzer. Oh, she had no idea.

"Yeah. The lesbians picked a different outfit for me, but then Charlotte's heart grew to be three times its size and he had some pity on me. So, now, vampire."

"What were you before you changed costumes?", Marvin asked.

"Slutty cop. Still got the handcuffs. If you want to borrow them, just let me know." Whizzer held out the handcuffs and winked at Marvin. "So you're dressed as Emmett and Elle from Legally Blonde. Cute." So cute. They were sickeningly adorable together.

The compliment made Trina smile. God, the poor girl was clueless. Less than five minutes and he could have Marvin wrapped around his finger.

"Yeah. Marvie had the great idea to go as the lead couple from his favorite musical. I guess you know it, too." Trina leaned on Marvin and snuggled her blonde wig into Marvin's shoulder.

"Marvin actually showed it to me. He insisted that I come over and watch it with him." Whizzer received a glare from the very out of character Emmett Forrest, but still continued speaking. "It was a really nice musical. I'm so happy you could catch yourself an Emmett. I think I will go look for my Emmett of the night. It was really nice talking to you."

Whizzer left the couple at the booze table and began looking for his lesbians and for guys to enchant with his new vampire ensemble. He finally found the girls making out on one of the couches after ten minutes of searching.

"There you are! I've been looking for you!"

"Damn, Whizzer. Okay, this is much better than the cop costume", Charlotte said and gave an approving nod.

"Yass, queen", Cordelia shouted. 

"Yeah, fine. With my twist on it, vampire costumes might not be horrible", Whizzer admitted.

"And you even like your costume?" Charlotte put on a playfully disappointed tone. "Damn. I shouldn't have been so nice."

"But aren't you glad that you get to see this?" Whizzer motioned up and down his costume.

"Yes, you look amazing." Charlotte rolled her eyes.

"You're a snack, honey." Cordelia said and attacked Charlotte's mouth with hers. She was definitely drunk. Charlotte was as surprised as she was happy about this.

"Alright, you lesbians. I'll leave you to yourselves", Whizzer quipped. Charlotte held up her thumb in agreement.

Now, time to find a guy to screw.

It was 10pm, around three hours since they had gotten there. The fake bite marks on Whizzers neck were now surrounded by very real, very dark hickeys. He could barely remember the guy's name. All Whizzer knew was that he was dressed as Captain America. Much more than that wasn't important.

"Hey", Whizzer moaned. "I'm getting myself another drink. Gonna be right back." He winked at Captain America and left for the booze table.

With another vodka coke mixed, he was just about to return to his possible one night stand when he saw a drunk Mendel in a skeleton costume stumbling through the doorway. His makeup already looked smudged. God, how much had his roommate had?

"Hey, Mendel. You doing alright?", Whizzer asked.

"Yeah. Except that I am falining all my classes and nobody has ever loved me", Mendel slurred. Jesus, he was off the deep end.

"That's not true. I don't know anyone who works as hard as you. Also, I like you. You're a really good friend of mine actually." Whizzer himself was a bit surprised, admitting this. Not that that made it any less true. He did really care about his roommate.

"But then why doesn't Trina?", Mendel asked. "She deserves so much better than Marvin. Don't get me wrong, he's my friend. It's just that he is a dick even to her." Oh boy...

"You're not wrong about that", Whizzer said and took a sip of his drink. "Anything I can do to make you feel better?"

"Well, not really. Except maybe... Trina and Marvin have been making out for the past century and - Well, it's probably only been a few minutes, but... No, that's not cool", Mendel said, sounding very all over the place.

"You want me to stop them from making out?" Whizzer smiled a conspiratorial grin. This could be fun.

"No, no. You really don't have to." Mendel slurred.

"Alright. Fine. You take care and drink a bunch of water." Whizzer smiled at his wasted roommate.

"Aight. Will do", Mendel replied. 

It might be a dangerous idea to be the one to stop Marvin from making out with Trina. And it might be the alcohol that was making him say Fuck it". But really, Whizzer was appreciating the opportunity to screw with Marvin if he didn't get to actually screw him tonight. He even already knew what he was going to do. Back to Captain America it was. Back in the living room, Whizzer looked not only for the super hero, but also the Legally Blonde couple. Aaaaand bingo. There they were. Making out in the corner. With a bit of intentional stumbling he should disrupt their making out no problem.

"So I'm back, Cap. Sorry, I was helping a friend." Whizzer said, intentionally slurring his words slightly and winked at the man in the super hero costume.

"Glad to see you're back", the guy responded. "So, where were we?"

"I think we were doing", Whizzer began and stepped closer to the man, putting his arms around his neck, and kissed him. "Something like this."

"Yeah." Captain America leaned in and began making out with Whizzer.

Okay, now execute plan Screw With Marvin. He took a stumbling step backwards and pulled the guy towards himself.

"Whoops. I think I'm a little..."

"Tipsy?", Cap asked with a kind of sleazy smile. Okay he just needed to get this over with and he could see how Mendel liked his maneuver.

"Yeah." Whizzer immediately attacked Captain's mouth again. Oh, how did that hand get there? Wait, no. God, since when did making out with cute guys make him uncomfortable? Okay, fine. Screwing with Marvin wasn't worth this crap. He began pulling away from the man.

"I think I should see how my friend is doing", Whizzer said apologetically and tried to get out of the man's grasp.

"Awe, come on. Don't be like that." He pulled Whizzer closer to himself again.

"I really need to look after my friend." Jesus this guy couldn't take a hint for shit.

"Your friend can wait." The guy just kissed Whizzer then and there. Jesus fucking Christ that was way out of line.

"Get off me." Whizzer began pushing the man away now.

"Why are you being such a prude?" Ha, yeah. Whizzer was a prude for sure. The guy had no fucking idea.

"Get off me. Now." Whizzer pushed harder.

"Hey, he told you to get off him." Marvin's voice cut through the chattering at the party. Marvin helped Whizzer push the creep away from him.

"What the fuck is your problem? This is not your business." Captain America was getting aggressive. 

"This guy is my friend and he told you to get off him multiple times. Back. The. Fuck. Off." Marvin stepped between them, his body shielding Whizzer who was frozen in confusion. Had Marvin just called him his friend?

"And if I don't?", Cap puffed his chest.

"You don't want to know." Whizzer could not see Marvin's sarcastic smile, but he could definitely see it.

"Okay, honey, it's fine now", Trina said from where she stood behind Whizzer.

"It's not", Marvin growled. Finally Whizzer snapped out of it.

"Marvin, it's really fine. I'm fine. Please, just calm down." Whizzer put his hand on Marvin's arm to hold him back. Marvin's shoulders dropped slightly as he relaxed. He turned around to face Whizzer.

"Are you okay?", Marvin asked him.

"Yeah. I'll go look after Mendel now."

"Maybe you and your boyfriend should look after your friend together", the sleazy antihero said. Marvin's eyebrows flew up. Uh oh. That guy had hit a vein.

Marvin responded without turning around. "At least that means that, unlike you, I would have an actual chance with him." Whizzer hadn't expected that. "Let's go to the kitchen together. Trina, wanna come with?"

"Yeah. I want to make sure Mendel is okay." Oh, Trina had no idea how very much not okay Mendel was.

"Oh, hi, Whiz. Marv." Mendel slurred and waved. His skull makeup was mostly smudged. The black around his eyes was now streaks on his cheeks. Whizzer guessed that was from a drunk crying session just a few minutes ago. Shit, he looked so done.

"Fuck, are you okay?" Did Trina just swear?

"Oh, Trina. I'm fine. Don't worry about me." The fact that Mendel slipped off his chair and hit his head was really counterproductive to the point he had been trying to make.

"Oh, honey. Let's get you sobered up." She smiled a caring smile while looking at Mendel. "Marvin, bring me the biggest cup you can find and fill it with water, okay? Whizzer, help me get Mendel off the floor, please."

"Alright, I'll be right back, honey", Marvin said and left. Trina, still wearing the ridiculous blonde wig was looking down at Mendel so she didn't realize Marvin had said this to Whizzer, whose heart incidentally skipped a beat.

"Let's get you off the floor, buddy." Whizzer looped his arm under Mendels shoulder and pulled him up. Trina stabilized him and sat him down on the kitchen chair again.

"Marvin is getting you water. You're going to drink the water and we will get you a cab to your dorm, okay?" Trina spoke in a soft, yet commanding tone of voice that made it clear she wasn't going to take any resistence from Mendel. 

"Sorry, I'm such a mess." Mendel's head was hanging low from what seemed to be his level of drunk.

"It's fine." Trina smiled. Then she turned to Whizzer.

"I have the water." Marvin appeared next to Whizzer with a big measuring cup full of water.

"Good. Were going to fill your cup with some water. You will keep drinking the water until your cab is here, understood?" Trina squeezed Mendel's shoulder. Mendel held up his thumb in response.

"I'm going to call you your cab now. The signal is bad so I have to leave. Whizzer, Marvin, will you make sure he drinks his water?"

"Yeah." Whizzer and Marvin replied.

"No, Trina. Please stay." Mendel grabbed Trina's arm. "Please?"

Trina sighed and smiled a little affectionate smile. "Alright. Marvin, can you call a cab?"

"Sure." Marvin nodded and walked to find better reception.

"Whizzer, are you doing alright?", Trina asked after a short silence and handed Mendel his first cup of water.

Whizzer attempted a smile. "Yeah, I guess. I just feel a bit weird, but that's probably a normal reaction. I'll be fine. We need to look after Mendel." He appreciated Trina's concern, but he really didn't want to talk about his feelings to Trina when he was screwing her boyfriend on the regular.

"If you ever need anything, just let me know." Trina smiled at him. Fuck, why did she have to be so nice to him?

"I'm glad Mendel has a friend like you. He needs someone like you to look after him", Whizzer said. "He'd be a hopeless wreck without you, you know?"

"Yeah, I guess." Trina smiled at Mendel absentmindedly. "Mendel. I'm going to give you another cup of water, alright?"

"Yup" was the only response she got.

"Cab's going to be here in ten." Marvin said as he entered the kitchen.

"Good. Let's wait outside. Well fill you cup one last time and take it outside with us. Whizzer, mind helping me out?", Trina said.

"Yeah, of course." Whizzer helped Mendel stand up and acted as his crutch while they were walking outside.

"Whizzer, do you need help with Mendel?", Marvin asked once they were outside. "I could make sure you two get home safe after what happened and we could split the cab fee three ways."

It was clear that Marvin didn't want to leave Whizzer unattended after the Captain America fiasco. Whizzer was too exhausted to refuse at this point.

"Yeah, okay. But only if that's alright with Trina." He looked torwards her for approval.

"Actually that's perfect. Marvin can call me and let me know how you both are doing when he's brought you two home." Trina was such a sweetheart.

"Also I live a very short distance from your dorm, so it doesn't bother me", Marvin added. "Trina, honey, you can come with. We can go by your place first, so you can get home quickly, too." Marvin was being unusually chivalrous. He had probably pissed off Trina at some point today.

"Oh no, it's fine. I want to stay a bit longer. You go without me." Trina smiled.

"Alright. If that's what you want." Marvin Forrest shrugged. Trina rolled her eyes. There it was.

"The cab is here", Whizzer said to change the topic.

Trina hugged Mendel goodbye and waved at Whizzer and Marvin. The three got into the cab and told the driver the address. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this chapter.


	4. Falsettoween pt.3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With Mendel safely at their dorm, Whizzer has time to spend with Marvin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anjoy Falsettoween pt.3!

"Feeling better, Mendel?", Whizzer asked Mendel. 

"A bit. I'm so sorry that you guys have to baby me every time I'm drunk", Mendel slurred his reply.

"You're going right to bed when were at our dorm, okay, Mendel?" Whizzer received no response. "Mendel?" He looked over to Mendel to see that his roommate was already asleep. 

"That's wasted Mendel for you, Whizzer", Marvin said and chuckled. 

"Oh wow. Nice." Whizzer couldn't help chuckling, too. 

"And we're here", Whizzer said. "Mind paying for the fare for now? I'll pay you back later." 

Marvin chuckled again and rolled his eyes. "Fine." 

"Yes!", Whizzer exclaimed, which made Mendel shoot up from his drunk nap. 

"Huh? What's going on?", Mendel asked. 

"Just letting you know we're there", Marvin lied. 

"Ah. Okay. Good. Tired." Mendel was so done with everything. 

Marvin paid the cab driver while Whizzer helped Mendel out of the cab and onto the sidewalk without either of them getting run over by one of the passing cars. 

Safe on the sidewalk, the roommates waited for Marvin to get out of the cab. 

"The fare was pretty steep, Whizzer", Marvin said with raised eyebrows, looking at Whizzer. 

"We'll all pay our fair share, won't we Mendel", Whizzer said with a devilish smile. 

"Yeah", an unknowing, drunk Mendel agreed. Whizzer couldn't help but laugh. 

"So let's get you up to our dorm", Marvin said. 

They got upstairs and put out clothes for Mendel to change into. Once changed, Mendel crashed onto the bed and immediately fell asleep which was evident by his snoring. 

"Fuck. If he's going to snore like that, I won't be able to get even a second of sleep", Whizzer hissed. 

"Well you could, always just stay at my place...", Marvin¹ started innocently. "Also, you definitely owe me at least a blowjob for that cab ride." 

"At this point I'm basically a glorified hooker to you, aren't I, Marvin?" Whizzer raised an eyebrow and smiled a crooked smile. 

"You're a much better conversationalist than I imagine hookers to be", Marvin replied. 

"Well, that's just discriminatory against hookers." Whizzer stepped closer to Marvin. 

"Shut up and kiss me." Marvin grabbed Whizzer by the ruffled lapels of his vampire shirt and crashed their lips together. After a minute or five Whizzer pulled away. 

"Okay, you're definitely into vampires. Also, my roommate who happens to be friends with a certain girlfriend of yours is sleeping right here", Whizzer said and pointed torwards Mendel with his thumb. 

"Well then we better get going. Just tell him you went out again after bringing him here. That is pretty much what you're doing. So it's not even a lie", Marvin said nonchalantly. 

"You would know all about lies that aren't technically lies, wouldn't you?" Whizzer raised his eyebrows. When Marvin began glaring at him, he sighed. "Alright. Let's go. And don't give me that look. I still have the cop costume and the handcuffs." 

Marvin's mood improved immediately. "That definitely sounds interesting, my friend." 

"I was hoping you would say that. Shall we?" Whizzer winked. 

Marvin was walking in front of Whizzer as he usually did. This time, at least he knew where he was going. 

Whizzer had his overnight bag slung over his shoulder. 

"You're kind of walking away from me with how fast you're walking. Are we playing a game of 'You Can't Catch Me Gay Thoughts'? Because I'm definitely your gay thoughts and you're definitely losing", Whizzer quipped. 

"You can't help joking about my sexuality, can you?" Marvin's eyeroll was audible. 

"Well, it's not like you're making it particularly hard for me to make my jokes", Whizzer playfully defended himself. They walked in silence until they reached Marvin's apartment complex. 

After a quiet elevator ride they entered Marvin's apartment. 

They sat down on Marvin's couch and Marvin offered Whizzer a glass of wine, which he obviously couldn't refuse. At last, they had finally made themselves comfortable with their drinks. 

"Are you okay?" Marvin looked very genuine in asking this. 

"What?" What was Marvin trying to achieve? 

"That asshole in the Captain America costume." Marvin looked actually concerned. 

"Oh. Him?" Ew, that guy... "Major yikes." 

"Wanna talk about it?", Marvin asked. What was he on about?

"There's something I want to do much more than talk about dickheads like him." Whizzer dug through his bag and held up the handcuffs. Something in Marvin's eyes changed. 

"Alright. Just one last question." Marvin leaned in. "Did you make out with him to make me jealous." 

Now, whizzer was unsure how he should answer. He couldn't betray Mendel, but Marvin would see through a blatant lie. 

"I definitely didn't like seeing you and Trina kiss, that's for sure. My plan did work. Just not the way I intended." He gave Marvin an innocent look, still holding up the handcuffs. 

"Well, in that case you're in luck. There's noone here you'd have to distract me from." Marvin grinned at Whizzer. "Now get your ass into the bedroom." 

2:30 am and Whizzer was lying awake next to Marvin, who was soundly asleep; had been for half an hour at least. Whizzer just couldn't stop his mind from running or his heart from racing. That's it. No caffeinated alcoholic drinks after 10 pm or he wouldn't sleep properly. Had to have been his vodka red bull he'd had at the party. Anything else would bear implications Whizzer didn't want to think about. 

It would mean that he cared about the guy who wouldn't stop touching him despite his outright refusal. It would mean that he cared about the fact that he was sleeping over at the apartment of a guy he actually kind of liked. It would mean that he was feeling things he didn't want to feel. 

Marvin stirred in his sleep and turned around to put his head on Whizzers chest. Jesus, if Marvin's hearing was any good, he would wake up any minute from Whizzers thumping heart. He couldn't like someone like Marvin. He just couldn't. Marvin, despite how sweet he could be if he actually tried, was an asshole. And self serving on top of that. 

It was really just not realistic for someone like Whizzer to like someone like Marvin. The still asleep Marvin now rolled further torwards Whizzer. He did his best not to smile as Marvin was covering half of Whizzer's body with his own. That's how Whizzer fell asleep. 

The next morning, the bed had only half as many people in it as it did when Whizzer had fallen asleep. Huh... Marvin was gone. Okay, that was fine. Whizzer was fine. But seriously, where was the dickhead? 

Whizzer decided to see where Marvin was. He got out of bed and walked over to Marvin's closet to borrow some clothes. He had left his bag somewhere he didn't remember and Marvin was still not comfortable with Whizzer being naked. Might as well give him that small bit of comfort. He put on a pair of sweatpants, yes sweatpants, and a basic shirt. 

Whizzer realized that he hadn't checked his phone yet. He looked at his screen to see:

09:30 am

3 unread messages. 

He unlocked his phone to read them and saw that the messages were from Marvin:

09:15 am

"I hope to whatever deity may or may not exist that you read this right when you wake up." 

The message was probably what had finally awoken Whizzer, now that he thought about it. 

"Trina is here. I tried to wake you up, but you were pretty much unconscious."

"Just be reasonably dressed so it doesn't look like we've been screwing."

Well, fuck, if that wasn't just fucking dandy. Alright, he was already dressed. Might be Marvin's clothes, but it would annoy Marvin more than it would make Trina catch on to anything. He walked out of the bedroom and saw Marvin sitting on the couch with none other than his girlfriend. He had his arm around her shoulder. They seemed to be drinking coffee or something along those lines. Cute. Whizzer knocked on the doorframe to announce his entrance. The couple turned around. 

"Good morning", Whizzer greeted them. He had been right. Marvin looked him up and down with a glare. He was definitely angry that Whizzer was wearing his clothes. 

"Morning", Marvin greeted Whizzer.

"Good morning, Whizzer. Marvin told me that after you brought home Mendel, you went here to drink some more", Trina said. "Did you sleep alright?"

"Yeah. Oh, thanks again for lending me some clothes to sleep in, Marvin. I didn't really have anything comfy to sleep in, so you were a total life saver. And don't worry, I already put your guest mattress back into your closet, so you don't have to put it back." Whizzer winked at Marvin, who blinked for a few seconds. 

"Oh, thanks." Marvin actually smiled. Marvin has been acting weird for a while now. 

"Don't you want to sit down with us, Whizzer?", Trina offered. 

"Oh no, I don't want to intrude. I'll put on my clothes from last night and let you have some alone time." Whizzer wiggled his eyebrows suggestively at Trina, who giggled in response. 

"Whizzer, you can keep these clothes and give them back to me another time. If I were you I wouldn't walk home in that vampire costume. Would look pretty ridiculous." Marvin chuckled. 

"Alright. Let's just meet at nine tonight. I'll give you back your stuff." Whizzer knew, Marvin knew exactly where they would meet. 

"That's fine by me. Message me where." Marvin winked. 

"Will do." Whizzer sighed. "Alright, I'll collect all my stuff and leave you alone." 

After a few minutes he had his bag packed. Marvin had thrown all of his clothes into the bag. Clothes randomly lying around would have been pretty suspicious. 

"I should have everything I need, now", Whizzer said. "So I'll be on my way." 

"Okay, bye Whizzer." Trina stood up to hug him as a goodbye. Jesus, he felt terrible. 

"I'll walk Whizzer to the elevator", Whizzer heard Marvin announce. "Be right back." 

"Quick thinking, Marv." He smiled at the shorter man. 

"Smart thinking with the night clothes", Marvin replied. They had reached the elevator and were now waiting. 

"Actually that was to annoy you and then I looked at my phone." Whizzer gave Marvin a shit eating grin. 

"Of course you did. You call me an asshole, but you're also kind of a dickhead", Marvin said, smiling up at Whizzer. The elevator arrived, the doors opened and Marvin pulled Whizzer in for a kiss. Then Marvin pushed Whizzer into the elevator and pressed his level so Whizzer had no time to react. Now, that was one hell of a morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Halloween chapters are now over, but don't worry. Marvin and Whizzer aren't over by a long shot.


	5. What's Up? We Haven't Talked In A While

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marvkns been off the map. At least to Whizzer, so he decides to pay the man a visit.

Whizzer waited for Marvin under their tree. He was sitting in the same place as he had the night they met. The place Whizzer had gone after his parents disowned him over the phone. That was almost two months ago now. Weird, the passage of time. Before his mind could produce any more cheesy lines, he saw Marvin approach.  
"I hope this time around you have everything. I don't have the time to ask you three nights in a row to give me my stuff back", Marvin said.

"Well, now we could just go to my place without you feeling uncomfortable, because you know I'm not a serial killer. Now that I think about it... you gave a random guy you just met a hoodie. Nice." Whizzer replied and raised his eyebrows.  
"You are hot, remember?", Marvin quipped.  
"You never let me forget, Marv." Whizzer smiled a crooked smile at him.  
"I guess I don't, do I?" Marvin chuckled and lit two cigarettes for himself and Whizzer. The latter handed him the bag of borrowed clothes. "Thanks. You finally learned to give people back their clothes the first time they ask you to."  
"I'm growing up, what can I say?" Whizzer sat down. Marvin followed suit.

"Two months. Huh...", Marvin said after a while.  
"Yup", Whizzer agreed. He looked over to see Marvin have a far away expression on his face.  
"I might regret asking this, but what did you think of me when we first met?" Marvin turned to look at Whizzer.  
"First, I thought you were an asshole. Which I wasn't that wrong about", Whizzer said. Marvin rolled his eyes and turned away from Whizzer a small bit.  
"Oh, how great", Marvin spat.  
"First of all, I was having a very bad night and you just showed up claiming the spot I'd been at before you. Second, you didn't let me finish. I realized that you are actually an asshole that happens to be very good in bed. There." He playfully shoved his elbow into Marvin's arm to make him turn torwards him again.

"Oh, wow. That really changes things. I should probably propose to you now for this great compliment." Marvin rolled his eyes. Then his thinking face surfaced again. "Whizzer, what exactly was going on that night we met?"  
"You lent me, a total stranger, your hoodie", Whizzer replied.  
"No, I mean with you. What happened to make you go here?", Marvin asked.  
"It's kind of a long story", Whizzer replied. Could he tell Marvin? No, that was way too personal.  
"Well I've got time", Marvin smiled.  
"It's fine. What was making that day so shitty for you, though?" Whizzer raised his eyebrows. "Seemed serious."  
"Actually, I don't remember." Marvin chuckled nervously. "I guess I was annoyed by Trina or something like that."  
"Wow. That is... the most you thing you've said at this point." Whizzer laughed.

"Please tell me what was going on with you", Marvin insisted.  
"Fine. It was..." Whizzer took a deep breath. "My parents." What was he doing? Why was he sharing this with Marvin?  
"Oh." Marvin nodded with an uncharacteristic compassion. "What did they do?"  
"They... disowned me. They found out I'm gay." Whizzers voice became shaky to the point that it surprised him.  
"They didn't know?" Marvin chuckled. Dickhead.  
"No, asshole. They didn't." Whizzer smiled sarcastically at Marvin. The latter looked away from Whizzer. They sat in silence for a while and smoked.

"And what happened? To make them find out", Marvin said quietly.  
"My mom was clearing out my room and found... some magazines under my mattress while cleaning out my room. While packing my stuff I completely forgot to throw them away", Whizzer's voice got shakier with every word until his voice was a mere whisper.  
"Oh... that's...", Marvin blurted out.  
"Yeah. I haven't talked to them since." Marvin's eyes became wide.  
"I'm sorry." Marvin said.  
"I'm sorry, too." Whizzer chuckled bitterly. "They haven't even bothered to call or even message me since." Whizzer now let himself fall backwards, so he was lying on his back and lit another cigarette.  
"Those might kill you, you know?" Marvin commented.  
"I was trying to quit before. I stopped trying about fifteen minutes before we met", Whizzer explained.

Whizzer and Marvin didn't talk for a few minues. They were both lying on their backs now, staring at the sky.  
"So, what is this?", Marvin asked.  
How did he expect Whizzer to answer him? Whizzer himself didn't quite know what this was. Whizzer should be the one to ask that question, really. Whizzer was the one in the dark.  
"It's you and me." That's all he knew to reply.  
"You and me. I like that", Marvin said.  
When Whizzer looked over at Marvin, he saw, the other was smiling. Marvin and him. That was almost an "us". No, he couldn't think those things. Marvin wasn't with Whizzer. Marvin was with Trina. Marvin would get engaged to Trina. Marvin would marry Trina. Marvin would someday have kids with Trina. Marvin was Trina's and, with Marvin's determinedly rigid life plans, always would be.

"Hey." Marvin pulled Whizzer out of his thoughts.  
"Yeah?", Whizzer replied.  
"You're unusually quiet. Got any ideas stirring in that pretty little head of yours." Marvin kept smiling. He had to know that it was doing things to Whizzer. Obviously he did.  
"Nope. I just realized that it's getting late." Whizzer sat up, turning his back to Marvin. He hadn't signed up for this deep talk.  
"Yeah, I guess it's kind of late", Marvin admitted, sounding taken aback. "Are you okay?"  
"Yeah. I need to go, though. Make sure that Mendel doesn't self destruct and all." Whizzer tried to smile at Marvin.  
"Oh, alright. You should. He's probably going insane by now." Marvin chuckled. "Just so you know, I'm going to be gone for Thanksgiving. I hope you have a not so shitty one."  
"I'll try." Whizzer winked and turned to walk away. "Bye."  
"Bye", he heard Marvin say as he walked away.

Whizzer was starting to become anxious now. He hadn't talked to Marvin in a week and a half, maybe two. Marvin hadn't messaged him, either. Not to tell Whizzer that he should come over, not asking Whizzer how he was, not to tell Whizzer he was still alive. Absolutely fucking nothing since Thanksgiving break. He'd see Marvin on campus, but whenever Marvin saw him, he ignored Whizzer. What was going on with him?  
He usually didn't message Marvin. Normally Marvin was the one to message him first. He was the one to initiate texting. Would it be weird if he messaged Marvin? Whizzer was mostly bored. Even fuckinh random guys off Grindr didn't help at this point.  
After five minutes of staring at his phone, he got over himself and messaged Marvin.

"Hey, Marv. You doing alright?  
I'm not done with this if you aren't."

Was that too forward? Nah, probably not. They were having sex on the regular, so nothing could come off as too weird. Why did he even care? Easy, he didn't. He just didn't want to be stuck as Marvin's booty call for all eternity. Now, what was going to do today? He had pretty much nothing to do.  
Cordelia already had plans to be gay with Charlotte and Mendel was studying again. Whizzer felt really sorry for his roommate's insecurities. Mendel breaking down at the party had only deepened Whizzer's compassion for him. Who else could he hang out with? Well, there was still one option left. He could technically... no.  
Jesus, he really needed more friends. Was he actually considering hanging out with- How could he be anywhere near considering asking Trina to hang out? Not while he was her boyfriend's side piece. Maybe after. But even then he'd be pulling a huge Brutus backstabbing Cesar moment. It wasn't fair for him to get close to her just so he wouldn't be bored. That would be even worse than Marvin at his most selfish. Well, shit. Randomly showing up at Marvin's it was, then.

He had almost arrived at Marvin's apartment when his phone buzzed. Coincidentally, it was Marvin:  
"We're not done."

Well, that was good to know. Would have been nice to get some information like... what the fuck he'd been doing for the past two weeks. Whizzer was almost at his destination when he realized something. What would he do if Marvin wasn't home? What if Trina was there?  
Shit, he hadn't thought about that. Dammit, he was almost there, so he might as well take the risk. He arrived at Marvin's and, as though fate was in his favor, someone was just leaving the building, so he flung himself inside. He took the elevator upstairs and knocked on Marvin's apartment door. The door opened and he was greeted by a... kid. Now that Whizzer thought about it, he had seen him on campus with Marvin yesterday.

"Hello. What do you want?", the kid squeaked. He was probably twelve or thirteen.  
"Oh, hi. Is Marvin here?", Whizzer asked, now feeling weirdly nervous.  
"No, he's out", the boy answered.  
Whizzer heard the elevator door open only to hear Marvin's voice. "Why are you here?"  
"Why am I here?" Whizzer, you better think of something quickly...  
Marvin looked at him with a panicked glare. Then he turned to the tween standing in his doorway. "Hey, buddy. I've got the pizzas."  
"Hell yeah! I'll put in the movie." The kid grabbed the pizzas and ran inside. There was a short silence.

"So why the fuck are you here?" Marvin was clearly angry. Why was he the angry one? Whizzer was the one who should be angry. Marvin took a deep breath through his nose and closed his eyes for a few second. Wow, not condescending at all.  
"Why are you here?", Marvin asked again. Think... think... think. He had it!  
"The handcuffs." Whizzer said. "I forgot them from when we, you know, had sex."  
Marvin clasped his hands over Whizzers mouth. Don't you dare say anything like that when I let you in. If Jason hears any of that, I'm fucked." Whizzer pried Marvin's hands off his mouth.  
"And Jason is..?" Whizzer asked.  
"My brother." Oh, now that did make sense.

"Just make it quick. Jason is staying over for the weekend. My parents were saying how much he missed me. I want to spend as much time with him as possible this weekend", Marvin said.  
"You won't even know I was here." Whizzer replied and followed Marvin inside. Jason was sitting on the couch.  
"Alright, Jason. This is my friend, Whizzer", Marvin introduced them.  
"Hi, Whizzer. So, why are you here?" Jason asked with intrigue.  
"Oh, nothing important." Whizzer smiled at his secret affair's so adorably innocent brother.

"I borrowed something from him and he's coming to get it back." Marvin walked over to his brother.  
"So I'm gonna go get what I came for and leave." Whizzer walked to Marvin's bedroom.  
"I'll help you. I'll be right there Jason. You can take out the icecream, so we can eat it right after we finish out pizzas", Marvin said. Shit.  
"Alright." Jason basically jumped off the couch and hopped to the kitchen. The kid has so much energy.

Whizzer entered Marvin's bedroom. Marvin followed him in and closed the door. Whizzer didn't know what to say.  
They stood there for a moment, neither of them saying a word.  
"I know, you aren't here for the handcuffs. I put them in the bag the morning Trina came by. You knew that, though." Marvin had that analytical look in his eyes. "So why are you here?"  
"I was sure I forgot my handcuffs here", Whizzer said.  
"You're lying", Marvin said with a condescending smile. Fuck, why had he missed this asshole? No, wait. He hadn't missed him. Mental freudian slip.

"Believe it or not, I don't always have someone available to screw me and when you told me, we weren't done I assumed you'd appreciate the surprise." Whizzer smiled a condescending smile right back.  
"Listen, just wait until Monday to fuck with me like this, okay? I really just want to spend some nice quality time with my brother", Marvin said in a snappy tone.  
"Fine. I'll leave." Whizzer replied.  
"Fine by me." Marvin responded.  
"Great", Whizzer said. When he left, he told Jason goodbye and closed the door behind himself. Whizzer was so dumb.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, you can leave a comment about what you think. It's really encouraging to read all your nice comments.  
If you have any ideas for improving this, please let me know, too.


	6. What Is This?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marvin managed to convince Whizzer to watch a recording of his favorite musical.

On monday, as Marvin had implied, he asked Whizzer to come over - if you could call demanding someone's presence asking. 

"Want to order something? There's this new Asian place that's really good. They deliver really fast. I ordered some food there a week ago", Marvin offered. 

"Sounds good to me", Whizzer agreed. 

They sat on Marvin's couch eating their fried noodles. Their encounter a few days ago still didn't sit right with Whizzer. What was going on with him? 

On Marvin's TV they were watching a recording of the musical Legally Blonde. Whizzer had been curious about the musical after researching the song he had heard in Marvin's car.

He might have not been too thrilled by the thing, but he couldn't help admiring the two lead actors. The girl had a voice that's for sure. Not to mention that the male lead was pretty hot. Marvin kind of resembled him, actually. Besides that, Marvin was so fascinated and enraptured, Whizzer couldn't help enjoying himself. Marvin pointed at parts of the screen to make Whizzer pay attention to details you would only notice after multiple viewings. 

For example how the male lead, who played Emmet Forrest had a hard time hiding his laughter sometimes, yet still stayed in character. Whizzer had a painfully hard time not to chuckle at Marvin's endearing enthusiasm. It was utterly confusing to Whizzer how someone as angry as Marvin could be so happy from something as simple as this. You'd think Marvin would need to have everything to try and be happy. That was Marvin's lookout on things no doubt. 

But really, Whizzer realized, Marvin was just an unhappy man looking for happiness in the wrong places. Did Marvin know that? Probably not. More likely than not, he wouldn't want to know. Marvin had his life plan. He had told Whizzer at the party a few weeks ago. A career, a house, a wife, kids, someday grandkids. The whole shebang. 

"Laura has such an amazing voice!" Ummm... 

"Who?" 

"The girl who plays Elle." Marvin said. 

"Oh right..." 

The musical was about halfway over. At this point Whizzer was actually kind of getting into it. When Elle finally got her shit together he had a hard time not feeling proud. 

"Yass, bitch! Go get 'em, tiger!" Whizzer shouted and snapped his fingers, which made Marvin shush him. 

"You keep on talking, so why can't -" 

"Shhhhh." Marvin shushed him again. 

"Fine." Whizzer sighed and crossed his arms. 

It came to Emmet getting a makeover and Whizzer had to grin. He looked over at Marvin, who who immediately gave him an exasperated eyeroll.

"No, you can't give me or my closet a makeover." 

"Well, it was worth a try." Whizzer smiled and bumped his shoulder into Marvin's as playful retaliation. 

When the professor hit on Elle and she left and sung her parting duet with Emmet Whizzer couldn't help but feel raw compassion for Elle. No matter how similar Marvin and this Emmet guy looked, they were entirely different people. Marvin would never be so genuine or emotional about anything. If he were either of these things in any way, he wouldn't be cheating on his girlfriend. Or at least he would admit that he is gay. Almost as gay as Whizzer at least. Why did he care? Whizzer didn't have to care. He would just have his fun with Marvin until it got boring. That's what he always did. 

The musical recording was over and Whizzer felt a mixed bag of emotions. Why had he agreed to watching this? 

"So what do you think?" Marvin smiled at him again. God, he was such a dick. 

"It was alright. Pretty good." Whizzer made his best effort to sound neutral. Marvin needed to be knocked down a peg at any given moment. 

"This is a great musical and you know it." Marvin crossed his arms. Jackpot. 

"You heard me." 

"Not my fault that you don't have good taste." Whizzer didn't have good taste? Was Marvin having a stroke? 

"Are you really sure I'm the one with no taste?" Whizzer cocked his head. "And before you respond, I beg that you take a look in the mirror to look at what you're wearing." 

"So mature, all you ever talk about is how unbearable whatever I wear is. Meanwhile you will go home with any guy who looks like he will be a good lay." Marvin puffed his chest. Cute. 

"I don't pretend to be exclusive. Unlike you, Mr. perfect boyfriend and future husband." Whizzer stood up. 

"You never know when to shut up, do you?" Marvin did the same and stepped close to Whizzer. 

"If that means I know how to actually talk to and be honest with people, I'll take it." 

"Oh you like to think how you're so much better than me. But the thing is, you aren't. You keep criticizing how I am a bad boyfriend to Trina." Where was Marvin going with this? "You could also just break this off. You could easily leave. But you don't. You keep coming back." 

"Don't." Whizzer lifted his hand in a halting motion. 

"Or what? What will you do?" 

"Or I will. I will walk right out this fucking door." That seemed to make Marvin shut up. Thank god! 

"Why do you keep coming here?" Marvin suddenly sounded quiet. 

"Because it's fun. I will stay until it's not fun anymore and with these fights, this will be fun for at least another month", Whizzer said plainly. 

"Do you want to sit down and smoke?", Marvin asked. 

"Yes, please", Whizzer replied. 

* * *

When Whizzer got home later that night, he threw himself onto his bed, feeling incredibly drained. Fuck. He was getting in too deep. He knew that. Marvin had gotten under his skin again and again. 

This had better come to a stop. Seriously. Whizzer couldn't go on like this anymore. He didn't want to go on like this anymore. Normally, he would have asked Cordelia for advice. Gays give eachother the best advice, after all. But it wasn't like he could just go to her and say: 

"So, I've been screwing this guy who has a girlfriend and just so happens to be best friends with your girlfriend. And it was always just about sex and still is, but something is happening to me and I don't know if I can keep going, but I can't stop going back to him either." 

Whizzer didn't know how an idiot like Marvin could unsettle him so much. Marvin was all talk. He talked and talked. He talked a big game but never did anything to prove it. And it was sad and pitiful how Marvin never actually did as he said. On the other side, though... it showed a hopeful side to Marvin.

Jesus fucking Christ. Whizzer really had to clear his head. Marvin hadn't messaged him, so he was free for now. He decided to go to a gay club and find some guys who would buy him some drinks. That was always the best way to take the edge off. He picked out his favorite outfit which screamed "buy me a drink, I'm single and willing" and left for the next gay bar. 

Once he was at the bar, he strategically placed himself and waited. Not too long and multiple guys had bought him a drink. All not bad, but not the distraction he was looking for. 

His phone buzzed. 

But at the other end of the bar was someone, who might be worth his time. Curly mid brown hair, a blue checkered shirt with light washed jeans and black converse. Whizzer moved over and greeted the nameless man. They talked for a few minutes 

His phone buzzed again. 

"So what's your name?" The stranger asked. 

"Andrew", Whizzer replied. He never gave out his real name. 

"Nice to meet you, Andrew. I'm Steven." 

"Nice to meet you, too, Steven." He smiled. They had some small talk and sipped on their drinks. 

His phone buzzed once again. 

"I'm not sure I can talk for much longer. I'm here with my boyfriend. He went to the bathroom just before you came in. The cue is unusually long here. He shouldn't be gone too long, now." Well, fuck him. Of course he went for a guy in a relationship. Seemed to be his type. 

"Oh, that's nice. How did you meet?" Fuck him. As if on cue, the boyfriend came out of the bathroom and put his hands on Steven's shoulders possessively.

"Well, that's a long story", the boyfriend said.

"To make it short, we met through a friend. Pretty cliche. I was deep in the closet and, well, he got me out of my shell. It was kind of hard, getting where we are. But now it's... really good actually. Sorry if that was a little too much information. I'm kind of drunk. We drank quite a bit before we got here", Steven said. 

"It's fine. We all get a bit... weird when were drunk." Whizzer was definitely taken aback by this guy's honesty. "I think I'm going to got for a smoke. Have a nice night, you two." 

Outside Whizzer lit himself a cigarette and looked around. There was really no other guy he found attractive. Fuck. At least he'd gotten some free drinks. His phone buzzed another time. Shit. Alright, who was it now? 

Mendel had messaged him: 

"Hey, where are you" - 10:34 pm

"I just saw you're not at our dorm" - 10:35 pm

Cordelia messaged him: 

"Sorry I've been MIA since the party" - 9:32 pm

"Want to meet up?" - 9:33 pm

Marvin still hadn't messaged him. Was there something going on? 

He decided that he shouldn't care. 

Whizzer got himself another drink. Because he hadn't paid for his first three himself he still had some cash left. After that he left to go to the tree he had first met Marvin. It was still the one place where he felt alone with his thoughts. He put in his earbuds and began to walk. 

When he arrived, he sat down under the leaves and lit a cigarette. He thought back to that first night. Only then did Whizzer realize just how long he hadn't talked to his parents for. He usually didn't talk to them much, so it had been all to easy to ignore how long exactly this radio silence had been going in between them. 

Should he talk to them? No, he wouldn't. He couldn't. And even if he did call, they probably wouldn't pick up. He couldn't bare even hearing his dad's voice. The anger, the disappointment and... fuck. 

This is getting ridiculous. He couldn't care if they didn't. And they obviously didn't. Otherwise they wouldn't have disowned him. 

Alright. Music and cigarettes. Just forget for one night. 


	7. Marvin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marvin isn't reaching out. So Whizzer shows up at his place.

Whizzer was out having coffee with Charlotte. They had gotten even closer in the two weeks that had passed since the Halloween party. He checked his phone for the umpteenth time to see if Marvin had responded to his message from the night before. This was getting weird. Marvin took longer and longer to message him or respond. They hadn't seen eachother for another two weeks. It wasn't like Whizzer didn't have other flings. He did. They just burned out so quickly. It was kind of weird. Now that he thought about it, no guy had been able to keep his attention like the badly dressed personification of repression that was Marvin. He needed some serious help.

"Hey, have you heard from Marvin recently?", Whizzer asked. 

"No, why are you asking?", Charlotte asked confusedly. 

"I was wondering how he's doing. Bringing Mendel home together was kind of a bonding experience", he said with a nervous laugh. Sound disinterested, Whizzer. Sound disinterested. 

"Um, I dunno. He really hasn't been around much. We don't talk that often either though. Marvin doesn't really like texting. He's more of a 'meet up in person guy' and he's been pretty swamped with all of his studying", Charlotte replied. Well, he usually texted Whizzer every few days up until Thanksgiving. 

"Oh, that makes sense actually." He looked at his phone. Still no reply.

Maybe he should drop by his place to see if Marvin was alright? No, he'd already done that. He really shouldn't care nearly as much about the man as he apparently did. Marvin didn't even care about Whizzer, so why should it be any different the other way around? 

"Sorry, but... I really need to go. Got some errands to run. Was really nice talking to you, though." Whizzer got up from where he was sitting. 

"Oh, no problem. Have fun with your errands. Bye", Charlotte said. 

"Bye." Whizzer waved and walked to the nearest subway station. 

Fuck it. Why not? Once again, to Marvin's apartment it was. Just to be sure he messaged Marvin. 

"Are you home?"

Marvin responded. "Yeah, why?" 

"I'm coming over." Best be upfront. 

"You can't." Like fucking hell he couldn't.

"See you in a few." 

Surprisingly enough, Marvin did buzz him in. Huh, so he wasn't too opposed to Whizzer coming over, then. He knocked on Marvin's apartment door. When the door opened his jaw dropped. Marvin was a mess. And not like usual. His hair was not just done badly, it was a frizzy bird's nest. On top of that, Marvin usually wasn't the best dresser but this was absolutely abysmal. The mess was starting to look annoyed. 

"Hello there, nice to see you too. Have you come here to actually say something?", Marvin asked, crossing his arms. Had Whizzer been staring?

"Actually, yeah. I was coming over to see if you're doing okay", Whizzer replied. 

"Well, I'm doing just fine." Marvin smiled coldly. Okay, something was definitely wrong.

"Do you mind if I come in for a glass of water?" He needed to get to the bottom of this. 

"You know, actually I do. I have to study. Thank you for coming by and sorry for the inconvenience." Marvin closed the door. Oh wow. 

Whizzer knocked again on the apartment door. Around the time his knuckles were starting to get sore, the door opened again. 

"Look, Whizzer, I am not up for any of this right now", Marvin spat. 

Before he could do anything about it, though, Whizzer pushed past him and let himself into the apartment. This was ridiculous. Marvin's apartment had never been this messy. Dirty dishes were all over the place, dirty clothes covering the floor. The spots you could see the floor were dirty. Fuck.

"Marvin, what the fuck happened to your place?", Whizzer whispered. 

"Just kinda let the chores slip for a while", he replied. Whizzer turned to look at Marvin who looked exhausted all of a sudden. 

"This is not just slipping up with your routine. Your place is..." 

"It's a fucking dump, I'm aware. Now will you leave me alone? I want to get back to playing Oscar the grouch, thank you very much." Marvin made a sad attempt at sounding sarcastic, even though it really came off more as self deprecating. 

He had never seen the man like this. He always looked tired, but now he looked plain exhausted. What was going on? And, more importantly, what was Whizzer getting himself into? 

As always, he had two options. He could stay or he could leave. He wanted to leave. He wanted to ignore the worry and the sour taste in his mouth and leave Marvin's apartment and just go. Not look back. The decision he was about to make, the words he was about to say felt heavy. Whizzer took a deep breath. 

"Do you want me to help you clean up?", Whizzer offered. 

"Do I... what?", Marvin stuttered. 

"Well, it's gonna be hard to clean all of this up by yourself, if you ever get around to do it in the first place.", Whizzer said. 

"That... sounds great. Thanks." Marvin smirked the slightest bit. 

"Also, I will feel much more inclined to come over here for sex if it's somewhat clean", Whizzer added, which made Marvin roll his eyes.

After around two hours, the apartment had returned to its usual degree of chaos and disarray. 

"I think we did pretty well", Whizzer let himself fall onto the couch and admired their work. 

"Yeah...", Marvin mumbled. 

"What's wrong, Marv?" Did he have something to complain about? 

"Nothing..." Liar. "It's just that you really didn't have to do this and I'm not sure why you did." Huh, that was a very good question, actually. 

"Well... considering how much time we spend together and the fact that out best friends are dating one another, we're technically friends", Whizzer said plainly. They were friends by default. 

"Friends", Marvin repeated. 

"Yeah, Marvie, that's what I said", Whizzer said.

"So, now that I'm here-" Whizzer began, but was interrupted by Marvin. Of course. 

"I am not really up for sex right now."

"Actually, I was going to ask you if you want to watch a movie. Your choice, though I would appreciate a movie that's not a musical. I would get the food", Whizzer offered. 

"Let me guess, I pay?", Marvin asked with a playful eyeroll. 

"That's what I was hoping?", Whizzer replied sheepishly. 

"Alright. Can you go to that pizza place down the block?" Marvin went to get his wallet. 

"Of course. They any good?", Whizzer asked. 

"Very good actually. I'll call them up and order our pizzas so they're done when you get there", Marvin explained. 

"Sounds great." Whizzer smiled at Marvin, who was busy ordering the pizzas.

"Yes, I'll have a pizza with pineapples and...", Marvin turned to Whizzer. "What do you want?" 

"For you to have better taste in pizza", Whizzer deadpanned. 

"Whiz..." Marvin sighed. 

"I want a mushroom pizza." 

"And a mushroom pizza", Marvin repeated into his phone. "For pickup. Yes, a bottle of soave white wine, too." Whizzer quirked an eyebrow, but Marvin just returned it with a pointed look. "Sounds good. Thanks." Marvin hung up the phone call. 

"You ordered white wine", Whizzer pointed out. 

"Yeah, I guess I did", Marvin replied and handed Whizzerthe cash. "So the pizzas are gonna be done in twenty minutes. You need to get going in ten. Our order number is 51." 

"Great, so about the movie...", Whizzer trailed off. 

"You said I could choose." Marvin smiled sardonically at him. 

"It was worth a try", Whizzer said, rolling his eyes. 

Whizzer opened the door to the apartment with the keys Marvin had given him. He entered with their pizzas and wine and put it onto the kitchen counter. Instead of sitting on the couch, where he had expected Marvin to be, the man in question was curled up on his bed. He sat up immediately, once he noticed Whizzer. 

"Oh. Hi." Marvin's voice sounded scratchy. "I- I was-", he stammered. Then he calmed himself. "You were quick with these pizzas." 

Marvin wouldn't want to talk about it. They were good at not talking about things. Whizzer was good at not talking about things. It was one of the few things they had in common.

So, Whizzer just smiled and asked "Do you have the movie picked out or do you need more time?" 

After ten minutes of Marvin having trouble deciding, they sat down to watch an episode of Black Mirror. He couldn't remember the title. Something with a collection. Black Museum. That was the title. They had just finished half their pizzas and a glass of wine each when Marvin excused himself to the bathroom. Whizzer paused the episode out of politeness and checked his phone to pass the time. 

3 missed calls from Mom

Should he call her back? Why could she have called him? He didn't get too much time to think about this, because Marvin came back into the living room. 

"You stopped the episode. Thanks", Marvin said. When Whizzer didn't react, he waved his hand in front of Whizzer's face and added "You still there?", which made Whizzer snap out of it. 

"Oh, yeah", he lied. "Just got bored waiting." 

"No one was forcing you to stop the episode." Marvin rolled his eyes. 

"Fine. You're right", Whizzer said and sighed. 

"Thank you for acknowledging my being right. It's about time", Marvin scoffed. "You really don't have to be so petty, you know." 

"And you don't have to be so repressed", Whizzer said. 

"This is ridiculous." Marvin crossed his arms.

Whizzer stood up and fixed Marvin with his glare. "Me telling you the truth is ridiculous. Sure", he spat. 

"What the fuck exactly is happening right now?" Marvin threw up his hands. 

"You tell me, Marv", Whizzer said. He put as much venom into the nickname as he could."

"Fuck, Whizzer. Hold up there for a fucking second. Did something happen while I was in the bathroom?", the shorter man asked in a surprisingly soft tone of voice. 

"No", he said taken aback. 

"Are you sure?", Marvin asked, furrowing his brows. 

"Yes, I'm sure", Whizzer muttered, looking down at his feet.

"Alright." Marvin sighed and sat down. 

Marvin nudged him, which made him look at the man sitting at the couch. 

"Wanna keep watching?", the still pretty exhausted looking man offered with raised eyebrows. 

"Yes", he said quietly and sat down next to Marvin, and they resumed the episode. 

Whizzer didn't even have to think about the calls until the episode was over and he was forced back into reality. Why did the episode have to end?

"Now that was a wild ride", he blurted out. 

"Yeah, it was..." Marvin said thoughtfully. 

During the silence Whizzer took out his phone again and stared at the screen. 

3 missed calls from Mom

He stared at his phone screen. Shit. Why had Mom called him that many times? His dad was going to kill him. He was seventeen, drunk and without a quick way home. His dad was going to kill him. And, fuck. How he wished it wasn't as literal as that actually was for him.

"Whizzer, what the fuck is up with you?" Marvin tapped Whizzer's arm which made him return to reality. 

"I have to go." Whizzer shot up from the couch and grabbed his stuff. 

"So you're leaving just like that?" Marvin got up and crossed his arms. 

"Marvin, I don't have time for this right now", Whizzer said, rolling his eyes. 

"You never have time for this", Marvin talked back. 

"What are you talking about?" Whizzer furrowed his brow. 

"You know what I'm talking about." Marvin threw up his hands and gestured wildly, his voice getting louder. "This. Us being together without fucking." 

"It's not about that", Whizzer said. 

"It never is, is it?", Marvin twisted his words. 

"It is actually not about us. Not everything is about you, believe it or not." Whizzer's voice also got louder now. He crossed his arms. 

"Then what is it about?", Marvin demanded. 

"Actually, it's none of your fucking business", Whizzer spat. "But, since you care so much, it's my mom. She called me. After not talking to me since the beginning of this semester." 

Silence fell between them like an impenetrable wall.

"I didn't- Whizzer, I-" Marvin stammered quietly with furrowed brows.

"Yeah. I have to go. Got some guys to screw, as you probably guessed." Whizzer knew his words were biting. He left and slammed the door as he left.


	8. I don't like him

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Whizzer, Charlotte and Mendel have a movie night and drink. Tea ensues.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, I didn't update for a while.   
Anywayyys... Another chapter! Have fun!

He didn't call back his mom. He didn't reach out to Marvin, either. Instead he threw himself into photography. He spent most of his free time the past few days walking around trying to find interesting places. Train tracks with graffiti, interesting buildings and the like were some of his favorites. He didn't mind how cliche that type of photography was, he had a weird affinity for it.  
He needed to step up his game considerably. His teacher, Mr. Finn, had been disappointed by his last two pictures he'd reached in for critique, because he hadn't 'shown all of his ability and potential recently'. Ugh, Whizzer could only roll his eyes. It was hard to find an amazing shot.

Fuck it, here goes nothing. He texted Mendel and then Cordelia to see if they were up for a movie night. They both had time, so Whizzer created a chat for them.

"I'm out right now.  
What drinks do you guys want?"  
\- Whizzer 4:27 pm

"White wine plsssss"  
\- Cordelia 4:29 pm

"Beer please"  
\- Mendel 4:29 pm

"Alright, I get to choose what we're watching, though"  
\- Whizzer 4:30 pm

"Run it by us tho  
I don't want to be stuck watching a documentary because you are thirsting after the narrator's voice"  
\- Cordelia 4:32 pm

"Benedict Cumberbatch has a really nice voice. And the pengwings are really cute."  
\- Whizzer 4:35 pm

He stopped by a store and got everything they would need.

"Got the booze.  
And some snacks."  
\- Whizzer 4:59 pm

"Yayyyyyy"  
\- Cordelia 5:02 pm

"Nice  
So when and where?"  
\- Mendel 5:03 pm

"Ours at 7?"  
\- Whizzer 5:04 pm

"Aight"  
\- Mendel 5:05 pm

"Cant wait  
See you guys then"  
\- Cordelia 5:07 pm

Back to his dorm it was. He cleaned up his part of the room and Mendel and him waited for Cordelia to show up.  
"So what are we gonna watch?", Mendel asked.  
"I have no clue." Whizzer smiled sheepishly.  
"Can I help you choose?", Mendel offered.  
"Only if you don't tell Cordelia", Whizzer quipped.  
"You know I can't keep secrets. My mouth keeping secrets is like a bucket with tons of holes at the bottom. It all just kind of spills out", Mendel said.  
"I know. I won't let you choose with me. It's my turn", Whizzer said and smiled at his roommate, who began sulking.  
What should they watch, though? They could watch a terrible movie. Or a romantic comedy. Or a horror movie. October was long over, it was mid November, but what did calendars know? It was never too late for a 90s who-will-die-next horror movie. He had it. Scream. That's what they were going to watch.

And as if on cue, there was a knock on their door. Mendel got up to open the door and Cordelia entered.  
"Hiii", she greeted her friends. She had something in a bag with her. Uh-oh.  
"Hi there, friendo", Mendel lifted his hand in a semi-awkward greeting.  
"Hi, Cordelia. Whatcha got there?" Whizzer hugged her and eyed the bag suspiciously.  
"Oh, just some... weed brownies." Cordelia smiled devilishly.  
"What?", Mendel blurted out.  
"Have I told you that I love you lately?" Whizzer grinned widely and spread his arms to hug Cordelia.  
"What?", Mendel repeated, this time louder.  
"Never hurts." Cordelia mirrored Whizzer and hugged the enthusiastic gay.  
"Cordelia, what did you say?" Mendel demanded nervously.

"I brought weed brownies I made two days ago." Cordelia smiled proudly. "And they actually taste good. I had Charlotte try a little. She loved them."  
"Weed as in THC? Weed-that-gets-you-high weed?", Mendel stammered.  
"No, the weeds she pulled in her backyard. Duh, Mendel", Whizzer deadpanned. "Never gotten high before, have you?"  
"No, never. Why would I?", Mendel was an absolutely anxious mess at this point.  
"Relax, honey, it's not like you need to eat one of these." Cordelia reassuringly rubbed Mendel's back.  
"Okay, thanks, Delia." Mendel smiled thankfully at her. "Whizzer didn't let me choose the movie behind your back by the way."  
"Good." Cordelia nodded at Whizzer.

"So let's have a bite and talk a while before I reveal the movie." Whizzer gave Cordelia a conspiratorial smile.  
"Yes!" Cordelia practically jumped onto Whizzer's bed with the brownies.  
She handed Whizzer a bite of a brownie and took one herself. They each ate their brownie. And wouldn't you know it, it was actually edible. It wasn't good, but not at all terrible. Cordelia was definitely improving!  
"These are so much better than your last ones", Whizzer complimented her.  
"Awe, thank you...", Cordelua grinned widely. "Whizzer, show me what you got!"  
"Let me show you", Whizzer went to get the bag of booze and snacks and sat down across from his favorite gay.

"I've got two bottles of white wine for us, two small beers for Mendel", Whizzer shot his roommate a look, which earned himself a "hey" from Mendel. "I also got salt and vinegar chips and sweet popcorn."  
"That's a really great snack selection", Cordelia commented.  
"Yeah. Also all of this was 15 bucks. So if both of you as to donate 5 dollars to a broke gay, I would seriously appreciate it", he joked.  
"Alright", Mendel rolled his eyes, got up and handed Whizzer the 5 dollar bill.  
"I'm supplying weed brownies. I think we're even", Cordelia smirked at her friend.  
Whizzer gave her a peck on the cheek as a nonverbal yes. "But only because I love you", Whizzer said.  
"Again, I paid for the weed", Cordelia said with raised eyebrows and a slight smirk.  
"Yeah, fine", Whizzer admitted. "Okay, any tea on any of you guys' love life?"  
"Nothing much. I'm a lonely, wiry psychiatrist-to-be", Mendel replied.

They were talking for about an hour when Cordelia and Mendel became impatient.  
"So what's the movie?", Cordelia asked.  
"I am actually dying of anxiety from not knowing", Mendel begged.  
"Alright, guys. It's... drumroll please", he motioned for Mendel to do a drumroll. Mendel, of course, complied. "Scream."  
Cordelia screamed, which made Mendel let out a high pitched squeal.  
"Never... do... that... again", Mendel said completely out of breath.  
"Sorry... you wanted a drumroll and I had to use the opportunity", Cordelia explained with a sarcastic eyeroll.  
"Never. Again." Mendel insisted.  
"So we're going to watch Scream? Hell yeah", Cordelia threw her fist in the air in triumph.  
"Oh, nice! Love that movie" Mendel said.  
They arranged the snacks and booze and all sat in front of Whizzer's laptop and started watching the classic.

The movie was over and the two gays were more than slightly drunk, not to mention high. For the first time ever, Mendel was only tipsy. He had waited fifteen minutes into the movie to open his first beer and only now opened his second one halfway into the movie. The snacks had gone mostly untouched, but that was, because at least Whizzer and Cordelia knew they would need them once they got the munchies.  
"Now was that a good movie selection?" Whizzer smiled in triumph.  
"It's a classic, Whiz. " Mendel admitted with a fond eyeroll.  
"Then how come I have to be pushy like I was, so you would let me pick?", Whizzer asked in a playfully annoyed tone.  
"Whiz, I already told you", Cordelia said. "You pick weird meme-y shit to watch. Or stuff only you are interested in."

The man in question huffed and crossed his arms, acting offended. "Fine", the gay said. "Now, who's the most fuckable out of the cast?"  
"Oh! I'll look up the cast list", Cordelia said enthusiastically and grabbed her phone. A minute later she held up her phone for the others to see the cast list, too.  
"Are we going by looks or by character?", Mendel asked.  
"You can choose", Whizzer said. "I'll go first. So... my choice would have to be the actor of Billy. He's just as hot, because fucking duh, but not nearly as homicidal, I would dare to hope."  
"He's not that hot.", Cordelia interjected.  
"You're a fucking lesbian!", Whizzer defended his very hot, very right choice of actor.  
"Don't pretend like you don't have the hots for guys with issues", Mendel said sarcastically.  
"Yeah", Whizzer lied and tried to laugh.

"I'm next I think", Mendel said. "Neve Campbell. I've said all there is to say."  
"Hmm... She does have that sweet, lovely ting about her", Whizzer said.  
Oh, of course. Visually, she was definitely closest to Trina. Jesus, the poor guy. Did he even remember that he told Whizzer in the first place? Should he bring it up?  
"Well, now it's my turn." Cordelia smiled and suggestively wiggled her eyebrows at a cackling Whizzer. "And I choose Courtney Cox."  
"That should be my last name", Whizzer said.  
Mendel, who had just taken a swig of beer couldn't help himself spit it out at Whizzer's comment "Jesus, Whizzer."  
"That's what my last one night stand said", Whizzer said and chuckled. "I still cannot hear that name without cackling."  
"That is the lowest form of humor and you know it." Mendel gave him a sarcastic look with raised eyebrows.  
"Oh, he knows", Cordelia said, smiling in her favorite gay's direction.  
"I can speak for myself", he replied mock offended and turned to Mendel. "I do know."

After some more talking, Mendel had finished both his beers and the two gays had finished about one and a half bottles of wine.  
"Can I have your wine?", Mendel asked. "Pleeeaase?" Mendel was already way too drunk. How?  
"I think you've had enough, buddy", Whizzer said, smiling at his obviously already inebriated friend.  
"Awe, c'mon. Please, Whiz? Lemme feel alright for twenty minutes at least?", Mendel pleaded.  
"Mendel, I think Whizzer is right", Cordelia said, hoping Mendel would listen to her.  
"Please guys? One glass?", Mendel begged now. He shouldn't let his roommate drink anymore.  
"Ummm... no." Whizzer shook his head while looking at his roommate.  
"You guys are meaan", Mendel whined.  
"He's off the deep end", Cordelia whispered to Whizzer. He couldn't agree more.  
"I can hear youu", Mendel said less whiny, but more annoyed.

"So how is your guys' love life?", Cordelia tried to dirstract Mendel from his whining. Shit.   
"I'm lonely. I have always been lonely and always will be", Mendel declared and laughed sarcastically. Maybe it wasn't just an unfortunate subject for Whizzer.  
"Don't be so negative, Mendel. Remember what you always say? Everything will be alright", Cordelia said and rubbed Mendel's back.  
"Yeah... I am so good at lying to myself that others believe it, too." Mendel let out another sarcastic laugh. Fuck, Mendel should probably see a therapist.  
"Hey, hey. Mendel. Things aren't as bad as they might seem", Whizzer gave him a pat on the shoulder.  
"Like your one to talk. You could have someone new every other night." Wow, Mendel is petty when he's drunk. That's not something Whizzer would have ever expected.

"It's not like I've been sleeping around lately", Whizzer said. He was trying to defend himself, but really just ended up regretting how vaguely revealing his answer was.  
"Ooh, lately?" And of course Cordelia couldn't help herself. "Is there finally someone?" That answer pulled Mendel out of his self deprecation.  
"Do tell, roomie", Mendel slurred.  
"Never ever call me that again. Roomie", Whizzer whispered.  
"Fine." Mendel let his head fall back in annoyance.  
He immediately lost his balance and fell onto his back, which made him laugh. The two gays couldn't help but laugh with the drunken psychology student. Not like being high made it any easier to not laugh.  
"Seriously, though, Whizzer", Cordelia interrupted her own laughter. "What's going on for you? Any special guys?" Here goes nothing...

"Well, not really", Whizzer said.  
He silently prayed she would take his ambiguous answer at face value. But, really, when did that ever work with Cordelia?  
"Not really? So there is someone. I knew it. Ha!" She was way too excited about it.  
"Do we know him?", Mendel asked with a curious grin.  
"I'm not sure. One of you might", he lied.  
"Can you give us a name?", Cordelia asked this time. Whizzer couldn't day just how much he hated all of this attention.  
"He's kind of..." in a relationship. "Closeted. Not my place to say anything."  
"Oh, closeted, really? Didn't think you'd go for a guy like that after Ryan", Cordelia replied.  
"Well... I dunno. There is the occasional other guy. And it's not like we're actually a thing. It's just that we're kind of dating, but it's nothing serious." And he kind of has a girlfriend, who happens to be Mendel's crush. Also, he's the best friend of your girlfriend. "I don't even know if he likes me."

"Well, do you like him?", Mendel asked.  
"The whole sex thing is fun, that's for sure. But feelings wise? No." Whizzer shook his head. "He is kind of a prick. So angry and entitled. And he constantly pulls this oh-my-life-is-so-hard bullshit. Acts like the universe has a vendetta against him."  
Mendel chuckled. " You've found Marvin's doppelganger."  
"You know it", Whizzer agreed.  
"But he can't be all that bad", Cordelia interjected. "You could have any guy who's not a prick, so why are you dating him?" Good question.  
"I don't know. Beats me", Whizzer answered.  
"Nothing?", Cordelia asked again.  
"Well... I *_guess_* he can be sweet. About the little things. Like how he orders my favorite wine for us to drink even though his favorite is in his fridge." Whizzer smirked softly.  
What was the alcohol doing to him?  
Cordelia and Mendel awed at his answer.

"You definitely like him." His roommate grinned at him.  
"No. That's so rare. Like, otherwise he is an absolute asshole. And if he's not being an asshole he plays his victim card." And then he looks so surprisingly vulnerable that you'd almost believe what he's saying.  
"You sound very bitter about that. You definitely like him", Mendel insisted.  
"It does", Cordelia agreed.  
"You guys have bonded too much and are using that against me. Not fair." Whizzer crossed his arms and rolled his eyes.  
"We're not against you. We're against your denial", Mendel said.  
"First, I'm not in denial. Second, you almost sounded sober there, Mendel." Whizzer and Cordelia chuckled when Mendel threw his fist in the air in victory.  
"Still, you like him", Cordelia said.  
"Eniugh about my love life. How are you lesbians doing", Whizzer asked.  
The distraction worked. Finally.

Cordelia had gone home an hour ago and the two roommates were watching Most Likely To Die when Mendel suddenly paused the movie.  
"I have something to tell you. It's been eating me up from the inside ever since the movie night at Marvin's", Mendel said quietly.  
"Shoot", Whizzer prompted his roommate.  
"When Trina brought me to our dorm... I tried to kiss her." Mendel squeezed his eyes shut. "There it is." God, Mendel was a sweetheart.  
"Well, what do you want me to say? Better luck next time?", Whizzer quipped.  
"Whizzer, I feel terrible. Even if Marvin doesn't deserve her, it doesn't give the right to randomly throw myself at her." His roommate buried his face in his hands.

"She isn't acting any differently around you, is she?", Whizzer asked while rubbing his roommate's back.  
"No...", Mendel replied.  
"There you go. I'm sure it's all forgotten at this point." Whizzer smiled encouragingly at his friend.  
"Yeah." Mendel murmured. "But if I can admit to trying to kiss a friend... you definitely like this guy."  
Instead of replying, Whizzer resumed the movie.  
What were his friends even talking about? He didn't like Marvin. Not like that. He liked him for sex, but that was about it. Why would he like someone like Marvin? There were way too many reasons for him not to like Marvin. 


	9. Smooth Talkers And Emergency Hannukah Shopping

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mendel asks Whizzer to help him buy gifts for Trina.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't mind me dropping four chapters at once.

"Jesus, those red boxer briefs look good on you", Marvin said. Whizzer turned around to see him staring at his ass. 

"On top of the fact that it's me, who is wearing these, I think it adds to the fact that I'm the one making our coffee", Whizzer replied. 

"Maybe", Marvin said. "You make the better coffee, though."

"Or so you say to get me to make it." Whizzer handed Marvin his cup and sat down across from him. "Here's yours. Black, no sugar. No cream or milk either. I'm done screwing with your coffee." 

"For a second I thought you wanted to say that you were done screwing me", Marvin said with a chuckle. 

"Not quite yet. At least not before those handcuffs break. They're really durable for costume handcuffs", Whizzer commented. 

"Yeah." Marvin took a sip of his coffee. 

"You do make better coffee than me. And I'm not saying that to get in your pants." 

3...

2...

1...

"Not like it would take much in the first place", Marvin said as he took another sip of his coffee. 

There it was. Whizzer rolled his eyes. 

"You really can't resist, can you?", he smirked sarcastically. 

"What? It's the truth. You are just not a person who thinks monogamy is important... or possible", Marvin explained. 

"Like you're the poster child for monogamy", Whizzer countered. 

"Well, I at least like the concept of it", Marvin said in a clipped tone. 

"Awe. Great concept, poor execution. I'm sorry, it's only a C-. Want me to blow you to make your bruised ego better?", Whizzer said in a sarcastically saccharine tone. 

"Sex. That's all it ever comes back to with you. It's all you ever talk about", Marvin spat. 

"Because that's all this is about. Remember? You love and cherish your girlfriend, who you aren't attracted to. And you fuck me senseless, but there are no feelings involved", Whizzer said. 

"It's 'whom'", Marvin corrected him. God, he's impossible. 

"Of course it is." Whizzer sighed. He got up and walked to Marvin's side of the kitchen table. 

"You think you're so much smarter and better than everyone else." Whizzer stood over Marvin, who stood up to glare at Whizzer. Jackpot. He had Marvin's attention. 

"It takes two people to cheat, you know? You aren't a saint either. You with all of your flings." Marvin added a victorious smile to his glare, which made him look simply condescending. 

"Says the guy with a side piece booty call", Whizzer replied with a slight smile on his lips. 

"You never shut up do you?" Marvin took a deep breath through his nose as he snaked his arms around Whizzer's waist to grab his ass and pull him closer. 

"Make me", Whizzer said with a cocky grin. 

One and a half hours later Whizzer had no clue where his boxer briefs had gone, but it wasn't like he actually gave a shit. He was much more concerned with catching his breath from his strenuous activity. 

Maybe he should check his phone or let Marvin check his, but Marvin's chest was much too comfortable to move his head. 

"You're right.", Marvin said quietly. 

"Hmmm?", he questioned nonverbally. 

"You're right. I have no right to complain about you screwing other guys, when... you know." That was probably as close to an apology as he was going to get. 

"I know", Whizzer confirmed. 

"Like you said, this is just fun. So I really have to right or reason to be jealous, I guess", Marvin said. 

"Exactly", Whizzer agreed. 

"I'm kinda worried. One of these days you might run into a guy like the one at the party", Marvin muttered. 

"That's just part of the deal of sleeping around, honey", Whizzer said and got up to sit on the edge of the bed. "Want another cup of coffee? I know I'm not wearing the red boxer briefs, but it's just 11 am and coffee is coffee." 

"Sure", Marvin responded and followed him out of the bedroom. 

Another cup of coffee later, and still at Marvin's, Whizzer went to take a shower. He couldn't find his red boxer briefs. 

"Dammit", he muttered under his breath. 

After another five minutes of searching he relented and dug through Marvin's drawer to look for Marvin's least marvin pair boxers. He'd change when he got home. 

Once dressed, he checked his phone.

1 missed call from Mom

3 unread messages from Mendel

He swiped away the notification of his mom calling and tapped to see the unread text message. 

"When will u be back from Cordelia?" - 10:03 am 

"Need help picking hanukkah presents for Trina" - 10:35 am 

"Pls help" - 11:21 am 

"It's not even december yet" - W. 11:54 am 

Whizzer put away his phone and went to the kitchen where Marvin was sat, looking at his phone. 

"So, I have to go. If you see my boxer briefs lying around, please let me know", Whizzer said. 

Marvin even looked up. "Will do."

Whizzer checked his phone again to see if Mendel had responded. He had. 

"Please?" - 11:59 am

He gathered all of his stuff before he responded to the text message.

"On my way. Be at our dorm in 20" - W. 12:04 am 

"Whatever or whoever you're doing, have fun, Whiz", Marvin said while looking at his phone. 

"You are a lifesaver !!!" - 12:05 pm 

"I know" - W. 12:06 pm 

"Alright. Seeya", Whizzer replied. 

"Bye", Marvin said just before Whizzer left the apartment. 

After roughly fifteen minutes he entered his dorm room. 

"Thank god, you're here!" Mendel stormed at him, looking desperate, overwhelmed and desperately overwhelmed. 

"Okay, now that I'm here, I beg of you, chill the fuck out. There's no reason to panic. You have another three weeks to get and wrap the present", Whizzer attempted to calm his roommate. 

"Presents. Plural. It's eight nights of hanukkah, so it's going to be eight presents. Each gets a tag with a number, so she will know the order she is meant to open them in", Mendel explained excitedly. 

"Alright. Okay, I see what you're getting at. Let's go, then. I'll google the closest mall. That's gonna be the most stores in one area", Whizzer said as he took out his phone. The nearest mall was... ten minutes away. Perfect. 

"So, before we go, though, we need to set a spending limit. I don't want you getting even bigger student loan debt because you wanted to buy Trina a 300$ diamond friendship ring for the eighth night of Hanukkah. On top of all the other presents." 

"I would have bought the ring for all eight days, but I see your point", Mendel agreed. 

"So, I think a limit of $100 for all eight gifts with roughly $10 each is a good idea", he offered. 

"I'm not going to argue, because I'd probably go broke doing that...", Mendel said quietly. 

"Good choice. So let's go, buddy." Whizzer gave his roommate a pat on the shoulder, then they both grabbed their stuff and left. 

"So what did you have in mind?", he asked his roommate as they entered the shopping mall, which was already dripping with christmas decorations. 

"Well, I want each day to be a slightly bigger, more special present, so every night will surprise her a bit. 

"You are literally the purest person ever", Whizzer commented. 

"When I'm not shaking from anxiety that is", Mendel added. "So I'm thinking something small like a really cute planner for day one and for day eight something like a necklace." 

"Sounds good. So what do you need my help for?", Whizzer asked. 

"Style", Mendel said plainly, pointing at his not impressively good looking sweater. 

"Yeah, you're right." Whizzer nodded in agreement. "What's her favorite colors?" 

"Pink and purple", Mendel answered. 

"Alright, then. Just run the stuff you like by me and I'll call you over if I see something. Let me know if we're walking by a store you think might be a good idea." 

They walked past a few stores. 

"This store has notebooks. I think they have planners, too. Maybe a cute set of pens." His roommate practically dragged him into the store. 

They did find planners. After looking at a few options, Whizzer recommended a planner with a pastel sunset with two swans on it, whose necks shaped a heart with the year in the middle. Looking further, they found a set of three ball point pens that were pink, lilac and purple with a crown on the end you push to write. 

"Then that's two out of eight. And that for only $13. Were doing pretty good, I'd say", Whizzer commented when they left the store. 

"I think she'd love a set of scrunchies. Maybe a headband?"

"Both should be good. She's been talking about getting new hair accessories", Mendel replied. 

"Then both it is... Let's go to the accessory shop over there." Whizzer pointed at the shop. 

At the store Mendel bought a five pack of scrunchies, a two set of hair clips, each with a big bow, and a headband. 

The scrunchies different shades of pink, one striped and one with hearts on it, the bow hair clips were white with lilac stripes on them and the headband was white with pink polka dots on it. 

"We have five out of eight and we've barely spent $35. Thanks for keeping my reckless spending in check", Mendel said and laughed. 

"So, we need some more special stuff now, right? Instead of a necklace maybe earrings or a bracelet? Just so your last gift won't scream 'leave your boyfriend for me because I give better gifts'?", Whizzer said. 

"Guess you're right...", Mendel agreed. "How about we get a bite to eat and keep looking after that?" 

"Definitely. I'm starving", he agreed with his curly haired friend and they made their way to the food court. 

Whizzer got himself an iced coffee while Mendel bought a hot dog and soda. They sat down on a nearby bench to eat. 

"You've been helping me pick gifts for the past two hours. Maybe I could help you pick some gifts?", Mendel offered. 

"Well, I guess I'm already here. Getting Cordelia a gift right now is probably the most practical solution. She'd probably love a cook book. Not like she'd follow the recipe, but she's going to love the ideas it will give her." 

"If only she would follow the recipe...", Mendel murmured. 

"Dude... Just because it's true, that doesn't mean you should say it. She's really sweet", Whizzer defended his best gay. 

"Hey, do you want to give a gift to Charlotte together?", Mendel asked as he took another bite from his hot dog. 

"Oh, sure! But.... what should we get her?", Whizzer replied as he sipped his iced coffee. "How about a lesbian shirt! We could get them couple shirts!" 

"But wouldn't that put pressure on their relationship? It can be very damaging to exclusively rely on one singular relationship, to put all your eggs in one basket." 

"Okay, I get it, Mr. Mendel I'm-going-to-be-a-psychiartist Weisenbachfeld." Whizzer rolled his eyes. 

"Actually, it would be Dr. Mendel I'm-going-to-be-a-psychiartist Weisenbachfeld", Mendel corrected him. Whizzer responded with a sigh. 

"Fine, so only one gay shirt for Charlotte", Whizzer relented. "It could say 'Proud Doctor' in the colors of the rainbow flag." 

"Hey, that's actual pretty good. And for Cordelia maybe a recipe book of rainbow recipes", Mendel said. 

"Love that." Whizzer nodded at Mendels ideas. 

"Mendel?", they heard someon ask. Whizzer turned around to see that it was Trina. She was smiling widely at the short, curly haired, young neurotic. 

"Hel- hello Trina! What are you-" Mendel stood up to greet her, which made his drink fall over. The soda splattered all over his calves. He threw his hands in the air in exasperation. "Really?" 

Whizzer noticed Trina smiling fondly at the guy with now soda soaked pants. 

"I'm here shopping for presents for everyone. Can't start early enough", Trina said, still smiling. "I already have a few gifts. Marvin, Charlotte, my mom. How about you guys?" 

"Well, we- I- Hanukkah presents", Mendel stammered. Trina chuckled warmly. 

"Mendel and I are here to buy gifts, too. Mendel is looking for eight presents for his mom. For all the days of Hanukkah, you know?", Whizzer explained. 

"Oh, so you celebrate Hanukkah with your parents?", Trina asked Mendel curiously. 

"Well, uh- yeah." Mendel nodded enthusiastically. 

"It's great that my parents aren't the only ones making their kids celebrate. Not like I don't like the tradition. Most just don't think tradition is that important. I like the whole spirituality aspect about it. Connecting with my religion in a way I usually don't." Trina got this soft look in her eyes and, probably subconsciously, tilted her head slightly to the side. 

"I totally get it. My parents aren't really that into the whole tradition, but I- I get why you and your parents would, you know? It's nice to have someone to hold- something to hold onto. It can really help you get through some tough times", Mendel stammered away, giving Whizzer a 'help me' look. 

"We are still totally in the middle of shopping", Whizzer jumped in. "And since Mendel has finished his drink, we would keep shopping." Whizzer earned himself an elbow to the side with his comment. 

"Do you mind if I come along?", Trina asked. 

"Oh, we don't mind, right, Whiz?", Mendel asked. 

"Yeah, come with us", Whizzer agreed. They'd get the other gifts some other time. 

When they Walker passt the accessory store they had bought the scrunchies and other stuff in, Trina stopped abruptly and pointed at the headband they had bought just half an hour ago. 

"Oh my god, that is the cutest headband I have ever seen. If I didn't have all these gifts to buy, I'd definitely get it." Trina sighed and kept walking, looking disappointed and playfully heartbroken over not being able to buy the headband. 

"Oh my god, you are an amazing shopping assistant", Mendel whispered in Whizzers ear. 

"I know. Now, keep walking. I'll look for stuff she might like", Whizzer whispered his reply. 

"So I was going to buy a cook book with rainbow food recipes for Cordelia. If you see one of those, please let me know, Alright, Trina?", Whizzer explained. 

"Sure, no problem." Trina nodded. 

"Oh, there's a store with scented candles! Let's take a look there. Mendel, I'm sure your mom would love a scented candle. Mine definitely does." Trina smiled as she lead the way to the store. 

"Cinnamon Cloud... Lovely Lavender... I love these alliterations. So cute." 

"Definitely." Mendel smiled dreamily at Trina. 

"Oh, Whizzer. Do you mind helping me choose a holiday themed candle for my mom?", Trina asked. 

"Yeah, sure." Whizzer tried not to look surprised or confused as he walked with her. 

"What's up?", he asked and hoped, he didn't look anxious. 

"Oh, umm... I was just wondering if you're getting a present for Marvin?", she asked. 

"Oh, well, ummm... I've been... thinking about it, I guess?", Whizzer stammered slightly. 

"I'm just asking, because I'm not sure whether I should get something for Cordelia. She is dating my boyfriend's best friend, so it would be a nice gesture", she explained. "But then again, I don't know her well enough to give her something actually meaningful, so is it even a good idea?" 

"No matter what, Cordelia will appreciate the gesture", he reassured her. "I happen to know that Cordelia is a basic bitch at heart and would probably love a scented rainbow candle. Or even just a pumpkin spice candle." Whizzer winked at Trina. 

"Thank you so much for your help." Trina smiled gratefully. "So... Are you getting Marvin a gift? He is very particular about the type of gift you give him, so if you do, it's best if you run them past me." 

"Sure... will do." Whizzer tried his best to look neutral. "I should get back to Mendel. He's probably completely lost." 

Whizzer abruptly turned around and helped his friend pick a candle for his mom, so they wouldn't look suspicious to Trina. At least that was Mendel's logic. 

"Also I have a gift for my mom. We don't really take the eight days seriously anyways", his roommate explained. 

They all met at the cash register and bought what they wanted. 

"It was really nice shopping with you two, but I really have to go", Trina said. 

"Yeah. It was great." Whizzer showed his most convincing smile and hugged her goodbye. 

"I had a lot of fun, too, Trina." Mendel smiled and hugged the girl. "You have a nice day. Bye." 

Trina waved at them as she walked away.

"Now let's get the rest of her gifts", Whizzer told his roommate. 


	10. You're The One That I Want

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marvin takes Whizzer out as a surprise

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have fun with this chapter! I sure did.

After Trina left, Mendel found his other three gifts for Trina. One was a cute coaster in the shape of a crown. As the last two gifts, Mendel bought her a set of earrings with pink hearts and as the last gift a choker with a pink heart charm to match the earrings. The choker had been Whizzer's idea. It wouldn't send the same romantic message of a regular necklace, but still be a more special gift than a bracelet. Mendel had insisted that he didn't want to give her a bracelet.

It was now the first week of December and Whizzer had pretty much all the gifts he needed. He had a rainbow baking recipe book for Cordelia, a scarf to match Mendel's favorite ugly christmas sweater and Charlotte's hoodie with the Proud Doctor design was printed and on its way. He even had a little keychain charm for Trina. The only gift he hadn't figured out yet was Marvin. What would a guy like him even want?

Whizzer's phone vibrated, which ripped him out of his thoughts. Before he could see who called, the phone stopped ringing. He took it out of his pocket. 

1 missed call 

His mom had called him two more times since that afternoon. But this time it wasn't her. It was Marvin. Immediately, he was bombarded with texts.

"Hey" - 04:47 pm

Marvin was never good at waiting. Whizzer knew that all too well.

"Where are you?" - 04:47 pm

He'd just let him wait for a few minutes.

"Wanna come over?" - 04:47 pm

Maybe half an hour.

"I am free for the whole weekend" - 04:48 pm

Well, maybe he should consider-

"I have a surprise for you" - 04:48 pm 

Now that changed things. Whizzer was lucky that Mendel was at the library. 

He called Marvin back, who picked up before the phone was done ringing for the first time. 

"Hi", Whizzer said. 

"Hello, Whizzer", Marvin's victorious grin was clearly audible. 

"So?", Whizzer prompted him. 

"Just come over as fast as you can and, not that I'd have to tell you this, but dress nicely", Marvin said, as if that was an explanation of what the surprise was. 

"You really didn't have to tell me that. Now I'm going to out dress you. Hard", Whizzer replied as he began picking his clothes for the night. 

"You always out dress me. Wouldn't you rather undress me?" Marvin chuckled at the other end of the line. 

"I'll get ready. I'm going to message you when I'm on my way over to yours." Whizzer held up a white and mint green shirt next to each other. He decided to go with the white one. 

"Please don't take two hours to get ready", Marvin said. Whizzer could hear his eye roll. 

"See you" Whizzer ended the call and hung up. 

Whizzer went with a white shirt, black skinny jeans and navy blue striped suspenders with his nice dress shoes. After styling his hair, he threw on his favorite brown leather jacket and got on his way. Once out of the building, he called Marvin again. 

"That was one and a half hours." Marvin didn't even bother to greet him. 

"One hour and fifteen minutes. Besides I look amazing, which you will see in less than fifteen minutes", he countered. 

"Please just hurry up. See you." Marvin hung up. How nice. Whatever. That wouldn't ruin Whizzer's mood. 

He let himself in with the keys he kept after one of the many times of storming out of Marvin's apartment. 

"Honey, I'm home", Whizzer announced himself ironically. 

"Don't call me that. And when did I give you my keys?", Marvin shouted from his room. 

"When I got the pizza after helping you clean up." Whizzer shouted his response. He looked in the fridge and saw a still open white wine from last time. As he poured himself some of the white wine, he heard Marvin step into the hallway and ask him confusedly "You kept them?" 

"Yeah." He took a sip as he turned around. 

He had to do his best not to choke on his wine. He hated to admit it, but Marvin looked genuinely good. He wore a white dress shirt with dark washed jeans and a black blazer. His hair was even decently styled. Wow. 

"Why did you think it was okay for you to keep these keys? People could be here." Marvin sighed and crossed his arms. Whizzer found his voice. "Fine. They're on the counter." After a breath he added "I see you actually tried to pick your clothes without a blindfold on. Was it exciting?"

"Well, well, well... Surprised you, didn't I?" Marvin said with a cocky smile. "I might just be the better dressed one tonight." 

"We both know, you're not", he said as he approached the actually pretty well dressed man. Well dressed for once in his life, at least. "But good try." He ruffled Marvin's hair, who immediately looked severely annoyed. 

"Fuck you, I spent fifteen minutes on that", Marvin snarled. He tried to reach into Whizzer's hair, but the latter batted away his hand swiftly. 

"No, no, sweetheart. No touching my hair." Whizzer smiled innocently at him. 

Marvin turned away as if walking away only to try and touch Whizzer's hair again, who batted his hand away yet again. 

"Seriously. Stop it. I spent forty five minutes on this", he said, pointing at his head of flawlessly done hair. 

"That's exactly the amount of high maintenance I'd expect you to be", Marvin said as he backed Whizzer against the wall. 

"Not like you actually care", Whizzer said and tried to look annoyed. 

That was when his back hit the wall and the air was knocked out of him. Before he knew it, Marvin attacked his lips and quickly moved on to his neck. That made the taller of the two tilt his neck. Then Marvin grabbed a fistful of Whizzer's hair which made him sigh and moan. Once Whizzer became aware of what he was doing and tried to pull away, Marvin let go and ran his hand up the back of Whizzer's hair. The hair in Whizzer's neck was quite literally standing up. 

"Seriously? Very mature", Whizzer snarled now. "Great, now I have to style my hair again." Whizzer walked torwards the bathroom, but was stopped my Marvin. 

"It's twenty minutes until we have to leave, so make it quick", Marvin said with a painfully patronizing pout and raised eyebrows. 

"Asshole", Whizzer muttered as he walked into the bathroom. 

"Pretty boy", Marvin responded. 

"You're surprisingly bad at insulting people for being so angry", he shouted into the hallway. 

"And you're surprisingly mean for being so cute", Marvin retorted.

Whizzer began styling his hair in the small bathroom mirror. After about ten minutes he ran his fingers through his hair one last time. 

"I'm done", Whizzer shouted into the hallway and left the bathroom. 

"Thank god, I was afraid you might take another century." Marvin said as Whizzer entered the hallway and held out Whizzer's unfinished glass of white wine for him. Whizzer grabbed it and took a sip in place of a response. It was silent for a few minutes as each nursed their drinks. 

"You look great, Whizzer" Marvin said as he looked at him with a hint of a smile soft eyes that almost made you forget how mean he could be. 

Whizzer snapped out of it. He shouldn't be feeling those things. Fuck, he shouldn't be feeling anything. 

"We should probably get going, right?", Whizzer broke the silence. 

Marvin cleared his throat. Something about him changed, though Whizze couldn't put his finger on it. 

"We have fifteen minutes until we actually need to go, but we can always show up there early", Marvin said. 

"Sounds good." Whizzer grabbed his jacket and walked to the door.

Stay calm. Don't let him get to you. 

"So what is this surprise?", he asked. "It's not just that your outfit is bearable to look at, is it?" 

"You think I look good and you can't deny it. Also, the surprise hasn't even started yet." Marvin grabbed his stuff and opened the door for Whizzer. "After you." 

"Thanks", he muttered in response and exited the apartment. 

Marvin lead the way to their destination. While Whizzer was the taller of the two, he had a considerable amount of trouble keeping up with Marvin's power walking.

"Are you trying to run away from me?", he grabbed Marvin by the arm to pull him back. Marvin froze. They realized that they looked like a couple out on a date and immediately broke their physical contact. If someone they knew saw them, they'd be screwed. 

"Were almost there", Marvin said after another fifteen minutes of walking. 

"I sure hope so. With how fast you're going I just got in my cardio for the week", Whizzer replied. 

They stopped in front of a theater. 

"We're here." Marvin had a satisfied smile on his face. 

He had to be kidding. Marvin was taking Whizzer so see what? A play? Not only was that not really part of Whizzer's spectrum of interests, this felt like - don't even think that word.

"You're taking me to see..?" He asked, hoping Marvin would fill in the blank. 

"Grease", Marvin said with an even wider smile. "I know you don't know it, but I know, you'll probably like it. Everyone has one musical that can potentially make them fall in love with musicals as a genre. We just need to find yours." 

"Well, actually I already know it. The movie isn't that unpopular, you know?" Whizzers reply made Marvin's smile falter slightly. 

It was replaced with a - was Marvin nervous? Probably - more than likely - Marvin was more unhappy about the fact that he couldn't say he had 'opened Whizzer's eyes to culturally essential works' or something similar. He was egotistical like that. 

"I mean, I dressed Cordelia and Charlotte up as Danny and Sally for Halloween as a couple costume. So I think it's pretty obvious that I like the musical enough to think the main characters are a good costume idea", Whizzer said. Marvin looked relieved? 

"Well, let's go, shall we?" Marvin once again led the way to the correct entrance.

They exited the theater and Whizzer was still amazed. He did want to keep his cool around Marvin, though. 

"So? Did you like it?", Marvin asked with a far too knowing grin. 

Whizzer had loved it. It was amazing and really cool to see it live, to see the actors actually perform. It was pretty fascinating, to be honest. But giving Marvin the satisfaction of knowing he loved it? Was that a good idea? 

"Whizzer, when you applauded, I could already tell you loved it. Just let me know that this wasn't a total waste of money" Marvin said and sighed. 

"Alright. I did like it... a lot", Whizzer admitted with an eyeroll. 

"You loved it", Marvin insisted with a slight grin. 

"Well, the actors were really good and the ensemble, too. The band was also really good. I mean, who wouldn't have loved this?", Whizzer blurted out an explanation.

"You just admitted it. I didn't think, you'd actually admit it." Marvin was now openly grinning. "Whizzer Brown liked a live musical I took him to see. " 

"God, you're impossible." Whizzer crossed his arms and rolled his eyes. 

When they made eye contact, Marvin had this soft look in his eyes again. Worse than that softness itself was what it did to Whizzer. Was he having a heart attack? His chest felt way too tight. Oh, no. This is bad, he thought. Shit, shit, shit. 

Marvin took a step closer to Whizzer. Neither of them said a word. They just... looked. Whizzer only realized that he had taken a step torwards Marvin when Marvin's eyes widened slightly as a reaction to his getting closer. 

Before he knew it, Marvin surged forward to kiss him. This wasn't what they usually did. Not only were they out in public, this one felt different. It was... softer. It wasn't heated or angry, horny or passionate. It was just a soft kiss. They broke apart after a short while and looked at eachother again. Looking into Marvin's eyes Whizzer's heart skipped a beat and he knew, he was fucked. 


	11. Bright Red Boxer Briefs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trina shows up at Mendel's and Whizzer's dorm in the middle of the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's getting juicy. Enjoy!

Whizzer shot up from his bed. He heard three knocks on his door. So that was what had woken him up. He had just had the weirdest dream ever. It was kind of fuzzy.

Marvin. He'd dreamt of Marvin.  
He on a stage and he was singing.  
About how... he left his... wife? Wife and kid?  
For... him.  
Apparently it was 1979...  
Trina was singing, too. She was singing to Mendel, who seemed to be an actual psychiatrist, about her failed marriage.  
Now Whizzer was singing a duet with Marvin? Okay, that had been very accurate.  
He wore a vomit green blazer, a blue and yellow shirt similar to when they met, beige pants and - the most painful part of it all - a brick red square tie. He remembered this awful outfit in nausea inducing detail.  
Marvin's style was apparently horrid even in Whizzer's dreams. Well...  
Now that he thought about it, Marvin would probably wear something like that without the slightest bit of hesitation.  
All of a sudden Marvin broke up with him and the only thing he remembered about that was feeling lost and abandoned.

Anyways...  
Next 1981...  
It got weirder... Jason was Marvin's son and... invited Whizzer to a baseball game and they got back together.  
Charlotte and Cordelia were there, too. And they were dating, even in his dreams. These damned lesbians. Charlotte was even an actual doctor.  
Whizzer then got sick and... Carlotte told Whizzer and Marvin that they had AIDS... Marvin was there for him during all of that and then... he died.  
Fuck, that dream had been a wild ride.  
He heard three knocks on his door. Right.

"Who knocks at someone's door at... 1:30 am?", Mendel complained. "It's Saturday."  
"I'll get it." Whizzer got up and didn't even bother to throw on a shirt. Whoever it was, they would have to deal with him being shirtless. They had woken him up after all. He opened the door and...  
"Trina? Hi, um", Whizzer stuttered. Why?  
Trina looked... devastated. Her eyes were puffy and her nose and cheeks were red.  
"Trina?", Mendel said. Whizzer heard him gasp just a few seconds later. "Shit, what happened? Come in."  
The roommates stepped aside to let in the poor girl. She sat down on Mendel's bed and buried her face in her hands. Mendel sat down next to her and began rubbing her back.  
"Trin, what happened?", Mendel asked softly. Trina replied with a sob. Oh god. What had Marvin done? "C'mon, everything will be alright, okay? Everything will be alright."  
"No, it won't", Trina said and shot up from where she was sitting. Her usually soft voice was loud, yet nervous and shaky. "Nothing is alright. Marvin is cheating on me."

Silence filled the dorm room, that, despite already being small, felt even more claustrophobic now. Whizzer stood there, mouth agape. He didn't know what to say or even think. Trina sat next to Mendel again.  
"How do you know?", Mendel asked.  
"Well I... Everything was normal at the beginning of the semester. Then a week or two later... it got weird. After that party... when Charlotte met Cordelia... After that things were different. He was different."  
Trina was stopped by a sob. Whizzer still stood there, mouth agape, unable to move.  
"I got more and more worried, because Marvin was becoming more and more distant." Trina trailed off.  
"I... That must be difficult." Mendel put his hand on Trina's shoulder.  
"That's not why I came here... I... was going to stay at Marvin's and... Well, I got cold. I always get cold very easily, you know that. And... I asked Marvin if i could borrow one of his sweaters. Because that's what girlfriends do. They wear their boyfriend's sweater when they're cold. Because their boyfriends want them to be warm." Trina interrupted herself again with another sob.

"So I went over to Marvin's closet and looked for a sweater. His closet was different... like someone else had hung his clothes. Everything had its place. And at first... I felt proud of him. For starting to get himself together more. He hasn't been... doing good lately." Trina said and chuckled nervously.  
"So I was kind of glad at first... until I saw it. There was a pair of bright red designer boxer briefs in Marvin's closet. Just kind of stuffed into his closet randomly. It was right on top of some of his folded shirts. I made sure Marvinwas asleep and came here right away."  
Trina went silent after that. Mendel didn't say anything.  
At least Whizzer finally knew where his red boxer briefs had gone.  
Trina let out an exhausted laugh.  
"He couldn't have loved me even if he tried. I mean, he tried to be what he's not." Trina took a sharp breath. "Not like I couldn't have guessed. I mean, we never... you know? We were... waiting till we would... get married. And I was stupid enough to think he actually meant it that way."

"Trina." That was the first thing Whizzer said since he answered the door. "I don't know what to say except, that I am so sorry this is happening to you."  
"That's just my luck. I find a guy to love me and he turns out to be difficult. But I smile. I don't complain. And then... it turns out he's probably been cheating on me for months. With a guy." She shook her head.  
Marvin truly was terrible at cleaning his place. Fuck.  
"Trina... I feel terrible for you... Maybe he just got new underwear?", Mendel offered.  
"Maybe, I guess... I'll ask him tomorrow. I just feel so exhausted dealing with all things Marvin." Trina wiped away her tears.  
Whizzer knew what he would do, first thing in the morning. Get his fucking boxer briefs back.  
"Once again, I can't express how sorry I feel for you. Even if he didn't cheat on you, something like this is always terrible to deal with", Whizzer said softly.  
"It's not like you're responsible, Whizzer. It's fine. I'll get through this. Just like everything else." Trina smiled at the very guilty Whizzer. If she only knew.

Trina seemed to realize her situation, as she began apologizing profusely.  
"Oh dear, it's so late. And I woke you two up in the middle of the night, just so I might feel better. I'm really sorry. Showing up like this was incredibly selfish of me. I'll go now." Trina shot up from the bed and began walking torwards the door. Mendel put a hand on her shoulder to stop her.  
"Hey, Trina. It's late. I don't want you being outside all by yourself. Mind if I walk you home?", the roommate said.  
"I don't want to bother you more than I already have." Trina shook her head. She kept walking to the door and Mendel grabbed her hand to stop her now. Trina froze.  
"Please let me bring you home. I won't sleep if I don't know you're safe. You are very emotional and confused. It's best if you are around people right now", Mendel insisted nervously. What was going on there?  
"Alright", Trina sighed.

"Give me a few minutes and I'm ready to go." Mendel began grabbing random clothes to throw on, so he wouldn't freeze outside.  
"I'll wait in the hallway", Trina said. "Whizzer, can I ask you something?" Fuck. Did she know?  
"Um, yeah. Of course." They left the dorm room and stood outside the door. "What did you wanna ask me?"  
"I was just wondering... I'm sorry, if this crosses a line, but...", Trina began. "Since you're gay... Do you get a *_vibe_* off Marvin?" Huh?  
"What do you mean?" Whizzer was confused.  
"You know... a gay vibe? I figured, that maybe... I just didn't realize? That maybe I was too infatuated to see *_it_*?" Trina choked back some more tears.  
"No. No, Marvin definitely has a straight vibe. Not sure if it says anything about him, though..." Whizzer did his best to not sound as apologetic as he felt.  
"Oh. Well, that is something, I guess... If he is-" She didn't say the word. "- then it's at least not my fault. That I didnt see it. That's comforting. Thank you" She attempted a teary eyed smile.

"I'm ready", Mendel said, opening the door to their dorm.  
"Okay. Thanks for bringing me home." Trina wiped away her tears. "And thank you, Whizzer."  
"No need to thank me. Really." Whizzer painted a supportive smile on his face.  
After Trina and Mendel left, Whizzer threw himself onto his bed and buried his face in his pillow. It had all just become real to him. He was a terrible person. He couldn't keep doing this. It had taken him until now to realize just how inconsiderate and unfair it was what he had gotten himself into with Marvin. He picked up his phone and went into his contacts.  
The phone rang twice.  
"Whizzer, you can't call me this late at night", Marvin whispered. "Trina is here."  
"She's not", Whizzer said monotonously. "She was just here."  
"What are you talking about? She is..." Marvin trailed off. "What the fuck?"  
"Yeah. She told us, you were asleep. She found my boxer briefs lying on top of your tshirts", Whizzer said plainly.

"What? She- Fuck." Marvin sounded more and more overwhelmed and frustrated.  
"I think it's for the best if you buy the set the pair is from right in the morning. That way you can explain the underwear by saying you wanted to try something new. She said she wanted to talk to you tomorrow, or actually, later today." Whizzer kept his breathing stable as best as he could.  
"Okay. Yeah", Marvin agreed. "I'll take care of this. Don't worry."  
"Good. You should fix things with Trina. And I'll help you with that." Whizzer took a deep breath and kept his voice steady. "This thing between us is over. We've hurt Trina enough."  
"But what about me? Don't I get a say in this?" Marvin sounded angry. Whizzer's face was made of stone.  
"Just as much as I do. And I say this is over." Whizzer kept his breaths deep and tried to ignore the burning in his chest and throat.  
"This can't just be over. I can't lose you." Marvin sounded like he was begging. Whizzer squeezed his eyes shut.  
"You never had me in the first place." Whizzer hung up the phone and buried his face in his pillow again. He wanted to shut out the world as best as he could.

When Mendel came back he pretended to be asleep, but somehow even that couldn't save him from conversation.  
"Hey, Whizzer. Are you still up?", Mendel asked in a whisper. "Hey, Whiz."  
Since his roommate wouldn't leave him alone, he acquiesced and groaned into his pillow to indicate that he was, in fact, awake. Whizzer looked up from his bed and hoped his eyes didn't look as red as he feared.  
"I'm sorry I woke you up. I just... I need someone to vent to." Mendel sat down on his bed. "I'm just so... angry. I am so angry at Marvin and whoever it was that he cheated on Trina with. They're such assholes."  
"Can't argue with that", Whizzer agreed.  
"She deserves so much better. I'm not even saying, she should be with me. I just think anyone would be better than Marvin. You'd make a better secretly gay boyfriend than Marvin." Mendel chuckled. Whizzer tried his best to chuckle, too.

"It should be you. No one has ever cared so much about someone as you care about Trina. Anyone would be lucky to get so much unconditional love", Whizzer said and smiled sadly at his roommate.  
"Is everything alright, Whizzer?" Mendel asked with a concerned look on his face.  
"Oh, yeah. I'm just- I feel bad for Trina." Whizzer sighed.  
It wasn't even a lie. He couldn't feel any worse than he did right that moment. His vision was blurry, his throat was sore and his chest and stomach had never felt this tight. He couldn't handle this. Not alone.  
"Are you really okay?", Mendel asked as Whizzer got up from his bed.  
"I'm fine." He threw on the nearest clothes, grabbed his keys, phone and headphones and stormed out the door to have a smoke or ten. 


	12. Fuck Him

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Whizzer walks around to clear his head and ends up at Cordelia's.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have fun reading!

Whizzer had spent the past few hours walking around aimlessly. He felt almost drunk from his disgustingly disorienting feeling of guilt and regret. Maybe he could outrun his emotions if he only tried hard enough.  
His phone buzzed.  
He looked at the screen, saw that it was a call from Marvin, which he immediately rejected.  
Whizzer thought and thought about a place he could go. He couldn't go to the tree spot. He couldn't think about it without feeling his chest and stomach tense up again.

  
He could go back to his dorm where Mendel was probably still awake and unknowingly wishing all things bad upon Whizzer. He could go to Cordelia's. If he left out any identifying details, he might just be able to talk about it.  
But he didn't want to talk about it. He just wanted things to be simpler. Just a week before, it all seemed so much simpler. But then Marvin had to go and take him to see a musical and be so sweet and genuine. And then he couldn't even put away obvious evidence of them. If only he could go back to not caring. Not caring had been so much easier. Not caring about Marvin, not caring about how things would affect Trina.  
He ended up just sitting down on a random bench he happened to pass by and lit himself a cigarette.

"That's my spot", Marvin had said to him the first time they met. So fucking entitled.   
Marvin always had that tone, didn't he? That tone of condescension and entitlement. Like the world owed him something. Like it was his fucking birthright to get his way.  
Not to mention that Marvin was so incredibly possessive over him while cheating on his girlfriend with him. God, he's impossible.

  
Whizzer began to feel restless, so he got up and resumed his aimless walking.  
"If I didn't know any better, I'd think you're flirting with me."  
Had Marvin wanted all of this to happen all along? Was all of this an idea Marvin had been playing with and Whizzer was just a casualty in this, right alongside Trina?

Marvin was condescending, entitled, hypocritical, manipulative, and above all things, an asshole. And things were even worse when he was all sweet and caring and genuine. Because that made you let down your guard around him, so his sharp remarks would only cut deeper. Not like Whizzer had ever let Marvin close enough for that to happen. Right? 

  
It's for the best that he had to end things. Now Whizzer could get back to what he did best: having fun and screwing around. It was what he was best at, after all. All fun, no feelings. Nothing could get messy if you only knew the guy for half an hour.  
He lit himself another cigarette. The smoke in his lungs might just distract him from the feeling of his chest being torn in two.

Whizzer found himself walking torwards Cordelia's. He knew it was way too late, but he decided, he might as well show up at Cordelia's anyway. She wouldn't ask any questions, hopefully, and just help him distract himself from his thoughts. So to her place he went. He knew it was selfish, too. He'd make it up to her by buying her a few coffees.

  
Cordelia looked annoyed initially when she opened the door (it was almost 3:30 am), then confused (Whizzer had shown up out of the blue, after all), then concerned once she saw his probably distraught facial expression. She had slight circles around her red eyes and her hair stood up in a curly lion's mane.  
Whizzer just stood there helplessly. 

  
"Oh, honey." She said and and hugged him. Then she stepped aside to let him in.  
Whizzer entered the apartment, that had always felt like a safe haven to him. No matter what, Cordelia always managed to make him feel comfortable and calm.  
"Let's talk in the kitchen." Cordelia smiled softly at her friend, nodded in the direction of her kitchen and led the way.

"So, what happened with him?", Cordelia asked as she poured each of them a cup of chamomile tea, Whizzer's favorite. He should drink more tea. She sat down across from him at the kitchen table. Somehow she just knew this was about the guy she'd told her about. Lesbian intuition, probably. 

  
"Well, nothing happened with him."  
There was silence. Whizzer thought just how much he could say without giving himself away. He didn't want to talk, but it felt impossible to not say anything to her with that open, compassionate look of hers, so he settled for saying this. "I happened to run into him and his girlfriend on campus today."  
Cordelia quietly gasped and covered her mouth with one hand.. "I'm so sorry", she said.  
"No... It's not that. I lied. Well, technically I didn't. He *_is_* closeted. But, well, I knew about his girlfriend. The entire time. Since before anything happened between us." Whizzer huffed out a laugh.

  
Cordelia furrowed her brows. "So, you knew. Why would you-"  
Whizzer immediately interrupted her.  
"I knew about her, but it... it wasn't real to me just how much it- It didn't feel like she was real. It didnt feel like I would have any impact on her as long as things were just fun. And..." Whizzer trailed off.  
"And then it wasn't just fun anymore?", Cordelia completed his sentence.  
Whizzer closed his eyes and took a deep breath in the hopes of calming the burning in his chest.  
"After seeing her today... When I got to my dorm I called him and broke it off."  
He immediately regretted telling her this. Even if she didn't know it was about Marvin, soon enough she would. Once Marvin couldn't keep up the charade, it would all come crashing down. Fuck.

"I should go", Whizzer blurted out and got up from the chair.  
"Hey, this is all between us. Don't worry. I won't tell anyone." Cordelia smiled at her friend.  
"That's not what I'm worried about." It kind of was. "I'm just..."  
"You need to get your mind off things. Wanna bake? I actually wanted to bake some winter themed cookies tomorrow- well, later today. So we could just start now." She kept smiling the honest and genuine smile that made Whizzer feel a twinge of guilt.

  
Cordelia went up to Whizzer and hugged him tightly. He interpreted this as her reassuring him that she didn't see him differently.  
"I'll get the book and we'll decide on a recipe", Cordelia said and immediately sounded excited. She went to a drawer and dug took something out of it. "I have something to show you. A few days ago, it was my one month anniversary with Charlotte and she gave me... this!" Cordelia turned around and held up a pastel rainbow apron that read _kiss the chef_.

  
"Oh. My. God. Cordelia, that is so gay. Never let Charlotte go." Whizzer hugged his best friend who squealed in her happiness.  
"I don't plan on letting her go in the near future. Or ever." She giggled, holding the apron close to her chest. After a minute, she put on the apron and gave a twirl. "It looks amazing, doesn't it?"  
"You look like the gay chef of any lesbian's dreams." He grinned at her.

"I'm gonna go get the recipe book. Be right back." Cordelia disappeared for a minute before returning with a thick book of recipe book for baked goods. It took a good half hour, but after some deep discussions about cookies and pastries, they settled for making cinnamon stars and chocolate chip cookies with a salted caramel center.  
"Can you get the flour, baking powder and sugar from the pantry? I'll take care of the milk, butter and eggs." Cordelia directed Whizzer pretty competently throughout the whole process.  
They started with making the caramel for the chocolate chip cookies. After the third attempt, Whizzer and Cordelia produced some caramel that didnt smell or look burnt. They put it in the fridge to chill.

  
"Wait, how much salt were we supposed to use in the caramel again?" Whizzer looked at the book and put on a shocked expression. "One teaspoon. Shit."  
Cordelia turned white. "Whizzer how much did you put in the caramel?"  
"One teaspoon." Whizzer grinned at his friend who let out a deep sigh of relief before laughing. Whizzer couldn't help bursting into laughter himself.  
"You fucking didn't." Cordelia playfully punched Whizzer's arm.  
He laughed and defensively held up his hands. "Couldn't help it. Sorry."  
"Don't you ever do that again." Cordelia chuckled as she shook her head in lighthearted disbelief. "Next, let's do the dough for the cinnamon star cookies. The hardest part is pretty much over."  
Cordelia had been right. The cinnamon dough went smoothly and even the chocolate chip cookie dough went well.

The cookies were all in the oven baking when they sat back down at the kitchen table. They realized that they hadn't even touched their tea, which was now cold. The sunrise on the horizon told them that it must have been around 7 am at this point.  
"Wow, we really baked through the night, didn't we?", Cordelia said thoughtfully.  
"We sure did", Whizzer replied. He breathed a deep sigh before continuing. "Thanks for, you know, being there."  
"Always." Cordelia smiled and for the first time in a while Whizzer felt like everything would actually be alright.

*_beep-beep-beep_*  
*_beep-beep-beep_*  
*_beep-beep-beep_*

"Oh", Cordelia and Whizzer said in unison.  
"The cookies are done. Yay!" Cordelia grabbed her oven mitts and took out a tray of cookies, which she placed on the windowsill to cool down.  
First, they tried the cinnamon stars, since they cooled down more quickly. They were actually pretty good.  
"Mmmh!" Cordelia smiled victoriously.  
"These are good!" Whizzer agreed! "Let's try the others." He grabbed a chocolate cookie for each of them.  
Whizzer took a bite. Actually, it was more that he *_tried_* to take a bite. He did manage to take a bite of the cookie part. The caramel part, however, had somehow turned into hard candy - which was still hot, mind you. It shattered in his mouth after his slightly painful attempt to take a bite. 

  
They looked at eachother wide eyed. Then they burst into laughter once again.  
"Shit! I've tried this recipe five times and it always turns out like this", Cordelia said, almost cackling.  
"How about we get a coffee to forget about our shame?", Whizzer offered. "Aaand since I woke you in the middle of the night, your first coffee is my treat. You can get the most expensive shit at Starbucks you want."  
"Sounds great!"

After Cordelia got dressed, they walked to the nearest starbucks, which was less than ten minutes away.  
Cordelia ordered herself a caramel iced coffee, so she'd have something with caramel that day that was actually edible. Whizzer chose a simple macchiato.  
"I still can't believe, that the cookies were such a huge disaster", Whizzer said, chuckling.  
"Hey! The cinnamon stars were good! And the caramel ones still tasted good! They are just likely to break your teeth. There's worse. Like the cookies where I mixed up salt and sugar? It was like salty sand." Cordelia laughed.  
"Oh, those were definitely something", Whizzer agreed, laughing.

  
Whizzer's phone buzzed.

  
Mendel was calling.  
"Sorry, I gotta get this." Whizzer took the call.  
"Hey, what's up?"  
"Where have you been? You have been gone since 3 am this morning. I thought you'd get back but you didn't, so where the hell are you?" Mendel sounded incredibly anxious and like he had been hyperventilating. Or he was hyperventilating that moment.  
"I'm fine, obviously. I was out walking and then went to Cordelia's. I'm out having coffee with her right now. Say hello, Cordelia." Whizzer held out the phone for Cordelia to talk into it.  
"Hi Mendel! Good morning!" Cordelia sounded so sweet.  
"See? I'm fine. It's all good. Are *_you_* good, though?", Whizzer asked.  
"I'm better now, thanks." Mendel sounded much more relaxed.  
"You should try and sleep some more." He looked at his phone screen to see the time. "Its only 8:30 am. And it's a Sunday."  
"I'm gonna go, then. Not sure I'll get any sleep for the next sixteen hours. Can't sleep during the day, but whatever. Thanks, though. You have fun, though. Bye, Whizzer."  
"Bye." Whizzer hung up.

He got back to talking with Cordelia. They talked for another hour or two about nothing and everything before Cordelia had to go to meet up with Charlotte.  
After she left, Whizzer sat for another five minutes, still sipping on his coffee when his phone buzzed again. Was Mendel having a panic attack?  
It wasn't. It was Marvin. Once again, Whizzer rejected his call.

Marvin kept calling and messaging Whizzer. Whizzer kept ignoring Marvin.  
Mendel kept on with his tirades about Marvin's side piece to Whizzer. Whizzer kept up his facade of detatchment.  
A few days later, Mendel huffed and threw himself onto his bed, while Whizzer was going through some of the pictures he planned on adding to his portfolio at the end of the semester.  
"What's up? Why are you so frustrated?", Whizzer asked his obviously annoyed and distressed roommate.  
"Ehs Mawwn an Rehn", Mendel said into his pillow. Whizzer furrowed his brows, but kept looking through his pictures.  
"What?", he asked and chuckled confusedly.  
"Ugh... It's Marvin and Trina", Mendel replied as he pushed himself up, so his words weren't muffled by his pillow anymore. "They're still together. And doing well, might I add."

That made Whizzer look up. Not that he was surprised. Marvin would do anything to get what he wanted. And Trina seemed to be amazing at pretending that she had everything she could ever want. Perfect match, aren't they? But why had Marvin kept calling him then? The dickhead just couldn't handle not knowing where Whizzer was or who he was doing. Sounded like him for sure.

  
"Well, it's not like you can do anything about it. Try distracting yourself as best as you can." He did his best to sound unaffected, despite the fact that he was pretty angry himself.  
And he didn't even know why. The guy was an asshole. That was a well-known fact. He shouldn't waste his energy on him. He shouldn't care. He didn't want to care. So he decided not to care and let his anger brew quietly.  
"I know I can't do anything about it. I just know that anyone else would make her happier. And on top of that anyone else would care more about her and her mental health." Mendel groaned into his pillow again.

"Huh?" Whizzer asked with a confused look on his face. "What do you mean with Trina's mental health?"  
"I would love to tell someone about this, but I can't. I promised her. Let it be said, though, that Marvin isn't doing anything to help her." Mendel shook his head.  
"So how are they still together? Wasn't there uh- a pair of blue boxers or something at Marvin's that made Trina think, that he was cheating on her?", he asked.  
"Bright red boxer briefs", Mendel corrected him.  
"Right."

  
"Marvin apparently bought a 3-pack of those red boxers to *_try something new_*, or at least that's what Marvin told Trina. She told me, he said he threw it into his closet randomly so she wouldn't find out because he wasn't comfortable with wearing a bold color like that." Mendel breathed out through his nose, obviously to calm himself. "I. Call. Bullshit. He probably cheated and now he's trying to cover it up."  
Whizzer had never heard his roommate sound so sarcastic. This was really weighing on him. Now he had another reason to feel guilty! Fuck my life, he thought.  
"Probably, but you can't be sure. Just don't drive yourself crazy over it, alright?" Whizzer said.  
"I'll try", Mendel and let himself fall headfirst onto his pillow again. Whizzer sighed and got back to work.


	13. A Nightmare Before Hannukah

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang is at Cordelia's for a holiday party. Things get saucy in the kitchen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is holiday chapter 1/4.  
Enjoy!

It was a few weeks later and no one found out that Whizzer had been the one Marvin had been cheating on Trina with. That was at least something. In fact, only Mendel and Whizzer were ever even told of the possibility that Marvin could have been cheating on her in the first place. The lesbians, thankfully, had been spared of this information.  
It was probably due to the fact that Trina had found a way to convince herself that Marvin hadn't cheated on her. Even if it was something as unlikely as Marvin starting to wear fashionable underwear. Jesus, Marvin otherwise graced everyone's presence by trying to melt away their retinas with his horrible fashion sense, which made the excuse and Trina's quick dismissal all the more sad. Whizzer really wasn't sure whether to feel compassion or pity for her in that regard.  
Because nothing had come of Trina's discovery, it was now a few days before christmas break and the six students had met up at Cordelias apartment for an early holiday party to exchange gifts. Whizzer loved holiday parties at Cordelia's. If there was someone, who found christmas decorations at malls and stores overzealous, they would have felt incredibly uncomfortable at the lesbian's apartment.

Her halls were fucking decked, alright? There were garlands everywhere, her windows were sprayed with fake snow, candy canes were hung on a dresser, on top of which she had placed her laptop to play a video of a fireplace. If that wasn't enough, there were mistletoes hung in multiple rooms.  
It would have been fine if Cordelia hadn't invited all of them over for a holiday party, as Cordelia had chosen to call it. This "all of them" included Whizzer and, because Charlotte and Marvin were somehow best friends - Marvin. That's right.  
The maze of mistletoes was kind of a minefield for Whizzer, if he ever happened to stand under a mistletoe with Marvin. Not that he kept imagining it. He totally didn't think about festive music playing while Marvin pulled Whizzer in for a- Whoa there, buddy.

The aching in his chest at his daydreaming pulled him back into reality. Everyone was spread throughout the living room. The two couples sitting on the couch, Trina, holding Marvin's hand.  
"You got your hair cut", Whizzer observed.  
"Yeah", Trina piped up and smiled. "What do you think?"  
"These bangs look really good on you. I'd keep it." Whizzer nodded in approval.  
"You do look amazing", Mendel agreed.  
"I'm so lucky to have such a pretty girlfriend", Marin said, giving her a peck on the cheek.  
Cordelia sat on Charlotte's lap. Mendel and Whizzer were stuck sitting criss cross on pillows on the floor. Everyone toasted and had their first sip of their first drink of the night. Cordelia, Trina and Whizzer were drinking white wine while Charlotte and Mendel drank red. Marvin had a beer, because why would he ever enjoy something as *_gay_* and *_effeminate_* as wine?  
Whizzer cleared his throat and got up from his designated sitting pillow, still holding his glass of wine.  
"Now that everyone else is present", Whizzer began in a caricature of a pretentious tone. "Shall we share our culinary success with everyone, dear?"  
"Oh yes, my darling. We shall", Cordelia responded in a similarly pretentious tone before she broke into a fit of giggles.  
"I'll get it. You stay here with everyone", Whizzer said and set down his glass of wine on the couch table.

He got up and went to the kitchen to get the tin of cookies. After a minute of looking inside the pantry, he found the rainbow cookie tin. Cordelia had bought it specifically for this occasion. He considered sneaking a cookie, but didn't. When he turned around to see Marvin, leaning against the door frame, he almost dropped he cookie tin.  
"Shit. Warn a dude next time", Whizzer blurted out, catching his breath. Whether it was his surprise or Marvin's mere standing there was a question for another day.  
"What are you? A colorblind ninja?"  
When did the asshole learn to be so quiet and not desperately grasp for every single drop of attention when he entered a room?  
There Marvin stood, in the doorway, wearing blue jeans and button up with - what was that? A brick red square tie? Ew. Just ew. How hadn't he noticed this atrocity before? Apparently he'd ignored Marvin more successfully than he initially thought. It never took this long to point out a horrible outfit- or rather a messy jigsaw puzzle of clothing, in this case.

"You've been ignoring my calls", Marvin said, crossing his arms, rather than actually responding to what Whizzer had said. "Not to mention that you haven't answered any of my texts."  
Was he really having expectations torwards Whizzer? As if he was- what? His boyfriend? You know what? Fuck this. He decided to leave.  
"Do you mind?", Whizzer asked in an icy tone.  
Marvin just stood there, looking at him. Whizzer tried pushing past the shorter man, only for Marvin to put his hand on his chest to keep him from leaving. He wished he was back in the living room. But more than anything he wished Marvin's hand didn't feel so fucking good on his chest. He wished it didnt feel like this hand didn't soothe the dull ache in his chest.  
"Why have you been ignoring my calls?", Marvin insisted.  
"Marvin, will you please let me leave this kitchen so I can return to my friends?" Will he please leave Whizzer alone?  
"If you answer my question", Marvin replied.

Whizzer smiled with venom and tried pushing past the man once again only to be pushed into the kitchen.  
"Why are you ignoring all of my attempts to reach out to you?" Marvin lost grip on his volume.  
"Will you quiet the fuck down?" Whizzer hissed. "You have a girlfriend. A loving, sweet girlfriend. A girlfriend who found a pair of my underwear. And when she pieced everything together, you took my advice to cover it up. This says all about your priorities I need to know."  
"Whizzer." Marvin, furrowing his brows, said his name as though stating a fact. As if he was trying to say something else entirely. It was all he said. Whizzer hoped he looked calm and aloof, and not as nervous or emotional as he actually felt.  
"Do you mind?" He asked once again, his voice only betraying him a small bit.  
Not enough for Marvin to notice, apparently, because the shorter man stepped aside without another word. He just looked at Whizzer. He looked at Whizzer with a look that was all to familiar. That almost caring look.

Whizzer finally pushed past the man. He was almost entirely in the hallway when Whizzer felt Marvin's hand close around his wrist. Why didn't Marvin just let it be? The taller man whirled around to ask what the fuck exactly Marvin thought he was doing.  
"There's a mistletoe." Marvin said, pointing above them. Was the tucker cracking a smile? Whizzer absolutely hated that smirk. It was the smirk he'd always found the most endearing about him.  
Stop. Thinking. About. Him. That. Way.  
"Like it's the law that we have to kiss", Whizzer said. "Better luck next time, buddy."  
He wanted to leave. Really, he wanted to. He wanted to go back to the living room. Go and sit down next to his best friend and open everyone's presents for one another. But his feet wouldn't move. He wanted to pretend, he didn't know why. Whizzer breathed as he looked down at his wrist, which Marvin still had his hand wrapped around.

"Marvin", Whizzer whispered. He didn't want to look at Marvin. Somehow his eyes found his way to Marvin's eyes and lips, his gaze alternating between the two. "We can't keep doing this."  
It was the right thing to leave. He knew that this wasn't fair to Trina. He knew it was.  
"Can't we?", Marvin asked, almost confused, as though he wasn't aware of his devoted girlfriend waiting for him in the next room.  
He should leave and leave this behind, leave Marvin behind, completely ignoring this burning in his chest.  
"I-", Whizzer began, but was quickly cut off by Marvin's gaze, which made his mouth run dry.  
He blinked and suddenly he let himself be pushed against the other side of the doorway.  
He might feel a knot of guilt form in his stomach as he and Marvin attacked one another's mouths, but finally after weeks the soreness in his chest eased up.

Then he came to his senses. He pushed Marvin away and steeled his gaze.  
"That's it for me, Marvin. Happy holidays", he said coldly, almost mechanically, as he finally and successfully pushed past the shadow of a man.   
Somehow, through all of this, he hadn't dropped the cookie tin. That was something at least?  
Why had he let himself get dragged into this in the first place? Something was deeply wrong with him.  
Whizzer scrutinized his appearance for any signs of flusteredness in the hallway mirror. "What are you doing, Whizzer?", he whispered at his own reflection.  
It was a valid question. For now, he decided not to think about it and tried to ignore all of his dug up emotion. That's what worked for him normally, right?  
He tried not to notice how light he felt, or how another knot formed in his stomach. A knot of regret, but not regret over kissing Marvin. Regret over leaving. What the fuck was up with that, anyways?

Damn it. It had to have been the wine. The wine had clouded up his mind. That's what had happened, he decided. After a few deep breaths, he felt that he looked normal enough again and hurried back into the living room.  
Fate seemed to be having a fucking field day with Whizzer, because he ran into Trina, almost stumbling through her. Oh, joy!  
"Oh, hi." Whizzer almost didn't stutter. She looked at him with a non-threatening expression, which was a stark contrast to her intense eye contact with him.  
"Hi", Trina said with a tight smile. "Have you seen Marvin? He's been gone for a few minutes longer than necessary now." She kept up the eye contact, giving Whizzer the same scrutiny he had given his reflection just seconds earlier.  
That meant Whizzer had been gone even longer than he initially thought. He did leave to simply get a tin of cookies. How long exactly had they been kissing- had he been gone for? Shit.  
"Well, yeah." Whizzer nodded. "I just ran into him while leaving the kitchen a few seconds ago." He pointed behind himself to the kitchen. Technically he was telling the truth. Partly. It did feel like the kiss had been far too short. Stop. Thinking. Like. That. Get a grip, he reminded himself.

He was glad that Marvin had exercised the bare minimum of self control and hadn't gone anywhere near Whizzer's neck. A hickey was the last thing he needed right now. Especially, when standing in front of the man's loving girlfriend.  
"Thank you, Whizzer." She said his name as though she'd just bitten into a lemon. That was new. Did she know? How could she have found out? She would have said something if she'd seen them. She would have stopped them right there, wouldn't she?  
"I'm gonna go and join the others back in the living room", Whizzer said, pointing there. "Good luck finding your boyfriend", he joked.  
"If I don't find him, you probably will", she replied.  
Whizzer and Trina stood there, looking at one another. He still didn't get it. She wouldn't have seen them and simply say nothing about it. He decided to worry another time.  
"I'll see you back there...", Whizzer said as he moved past Trina and entered the living room.

Everyone who hadn't left the living room, Mendel and The Lesbians, were just where they'd been before he left to get the cookies. Nothing had changed in these however many minutes. It was all the same, but it wasn't.  
"Sorry for taking so long. I kinda zoned out while looking for it", he said, announcing himself as he entered the living room.  
"Oh, that's fine", Cordelia replied with a carefree smile. If she knew what had just gone down, she probably wouldn't be this upbeat. Marvin was doing this to him. Marvin was the one getting Whizzer all confused and ugh. He couldn't stand this- this- feeling.  
The door opened and closed.  
"We're back", Trina announced her and Marvin's return. Continuously holding Marvin's hand, she sat down and pulled Marvin with her.  
"Perfect! Just in time." Cordelia got up from Charlotte's lap and leaped torwards Whizzer, taking the cookie tin, Whizzer was holding.  
"In here are cookies", she explained, holding the tin of baked treats up, as though they were some kind of treasure.

"Well it is a cookie tin. I'd expect a cookie tin to have cookies inside it", Marvin commented with an eyeroll. That earned him a glare from Trina. She was even colder torwards Marvin than she had been torwards Whizzer.  
"It's cinnamon star cookies, actually", Whizzer specified with a cold smile, fixating Marvin, who looked back at him with a seething expression.  
"We baked these together and we're really proud of them.", Cordelia explained with a proud smile, either not noticing or ignoring the venom between the two men. "They're really good!"  
Charlotte, as the brave girlfriend, tried one first  
"These cookies are really yummy! You guys need to try these", Charlotte encouraged everyone else to try the cookies, too.  
"Oh, these *_are_* good!" Trina smiled and didn't look like she'd eaten something inexplicably sour again. "Right, Marvie?" She did her best to look lovingly at Marvin, Whizzer assumed. It really just came off as coercing, though.  
"Your best yet", Marvin agreed with a thoughtful unbelievably inauthentic smile, his eyes revealing just how uncomfortable Tina's assertiveness made him. The compliance earned him a peck on the cheek from Trina.

Mendel started coughing and pounding his chest. After half a minute, that made everyone worry about his health, he finally managed to catch his breath.  
"Choked on a few crumbs, sorry." Mendel held up his hands apologetically. "These are good for sure", he added, still slightly out of breath.  
"Thank you so much!" Cordelia giggled.  
The fact that everyone seemed to like the cookies made Cordelia beam even more than before. On top of everything, the praise for her and Whizzer's cookies, the restiveness of it all, looking forward to spending the holidays with her girlfriend, she was slightly tipsy from the wine. Because of that, she was, more likely than not, completely unaware of any of the awkwardness everyone was displaying.  
"Time for the gifts!", Cordelia exclaimed. "Everyone grab all the gifts you brought. Well spin this bottle." She held up an empty bottle of what had been white wine, the white wine Cordelia and Whizzer, mostly Cordelia, had finished together.  
"I get to spin first. Whoever the bottle points to, gets all of their gifts. Then that person gets to spin and so on until everyone gets all of their gifts. Sound good?" Cordelia smiled so widely, Whizzer couldn't help but love the idea. 


	14. A Nightmare Before Hannukah pt.2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Christmas party continues after saucy kitchen activities.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Christmas chapter 2/4 ahead.

After everyone grabbed all of the bags with gifts, they all sat gathered in front of the dresser with the fireplace video still playing on the laptop, exchanging gifts. Cordelia - as the host, she got to go first - spun the bottle to see who would open their gifts first.  
The bottle landed on Charlotte. She absolutely loved the hoodie Mendel and Whizzer had designed for her.  
"It's amazing, you guys!" Charlotte smiled widely and chuckled at the design.  
"I wanted to give her something like that, Whizzer!", Cordelia complained lightheartedly.  
"I'm sorry, that Mendel and I have good ideas first", Whizzer teased her.  
Trina had bought her a rainbow binder. A sensible, but sentimental gift. It was very Trina.  
"Thank you, Trina. That's so sweet", Charlotte said.  
"I know that rainbows are always a win with you", Trina replied with a smile.  
Marvin just handed Charlotte a card. Wow.

"That's so much effort. I'm impressed", Whizzer said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. He took a sip of his wine, which made him look even more dramatic than he'd initially intended.   
"Not your gift", Marvin hissed, looking at Charlotte and gauging her reaction.  
"It's sweet", Charlotte replied, probably trying to manage the atmosphere of the room.  
"I think it's cheap", Whizzer said pointedly.  
"Gotta be cheap to know cheap", Marvin murmured.  
"Excuse me?" Whizzer asked, raising eyebrow. He was getting, amongst other things, frustrated. Not to mention hurt. Who did Marvin think he was?  
"I just think you don't put enough effort into your relationships", Whizzer replied neutrally, a numb, pounding sensation spreading throughout his chest. Whizzer took a sip of his wine.  
"Well, that shows just how much you know about me", Marvin replied, not even looking at him, instead, he was looking at Trina with a smile, that was probably meant to look doting. He took another sip of his wine.  
Smiling? Fucking smiling. How fucking dare he? And how clearly fake that smile was, didn't seem to bother Trina. Or maybe she just didn't want to see it.

"It's not just a card, Whizzer. Marvin actually puts really nice, meaningful messages in his cards", Charlotte defended the fashion disaster as she opened the card. She read the message. "Oh, Marvin, that's really sweet. Can I read it out loud?"  
"I don't know about that", Marvin said, shaking his head. Prick. Another sip of wine.  
"I'm trying to redeem you. You gotta give me something, buddy." Charlotte lifted her eyebrows.  
"There's nothing to redeem me for", Marvin replied. Well, that was debatable. And another sip of wine.  
"Fine." Charlotte put away the card.  
The lesbians explained that they wanted to wait a few days with their gifts for one another since they were planning on celebrating together.  
"That's so cheesy. I love it." Whizzer tried his best to look genuinely happy, grinning at The Lesbians. Another sip of wine later, he realizer that his glass was empty. He poured himself and Charlotte some red wine.

There were no more gifts left for Charlotte to open, so they spun the bottle again. This time it pointed at Mendel. He got a CD of his favorite indie band's new album from Charlotte and Cordelia and Marvin gave him a card, too. While Mendel was excited about the CD, he looked confused when he looked at the card's message. At least Whizzer assumed that, once again there was a "heartfelt" message in this card.  
"Um, thanks, Marvin." It was more of a question than an actual statement of gratitude. What had Marvin written inside the card?  
"Welcome", Marvin growled in response. Whizzer was so lucky to be rid of this headache.  
"Heres my gift for you", Whizzer said, ignoring Marvin's bitchiness and handed him the gift. Mendel smiled widely as he unwrapped the scarf, which matched the sweater he was wearing perfectly.  
"That's why you wanted me to wear this sweater despite the fact that you hate it with a passion." Mendel laughed at the realization.  
"Well, that is why they're called *_ugly_* Christmas sweaters", Whizzer pointed out. "You're supposed to relish in their ugly glory."  
Mendel thanked him and Whizzer smiled in response. They spun the bottle again. This time it was Cordelia's turn.

Trina handed Cordelia her first gift. Upon sight, Cordelia squealed from joy.  
"Awe! Trina, that's so sweet of you!" Cordelia was holding a cinnamon scented rainbow candle. Trina glanced coldly at Whizzer for a second before her smile turned warm again, looking at Cordelia.  
"Oh, it's not a big deal. I had a hunch", she said. "I just knew, you'd like it."  
"She's good with things like that", Marvin chimed in and put a hand on Trina's thigh. She put her hand on his and smiled sheepishly at him. Whizzer put on a smile as he looked at the happy couple. And another sip of wine it was. A big one.  
"Open mine next!" Mendel handed her his gift.  
"Thank you so much. This is amazing!" The blonde lesbian giggled and squealed, tackling him with a hug. Mendel's gift was a pastel colored spatula in the shape of a unicorn head. "Mendel, that is an amazing gift!"  
"I should have thought of it", Whizzer mumbled jokingly. "Now my gift. Here it is." Cordelia smiled a joyful, giddy smile as Whizzer handed her his gift.

"Oh my god. Oh. My. God. This is amazing!" Cordelia tackled Whizzer in a hug now. Right after, she began flipping through the book for recipies.  
"These all look and sound delicious. And so gay. Oh my god! A rainbow lasagna! Guys, I'll be back in a few hours!" Cordelia leaped up before Whizzer could say anything.  
The others managed to get her to sit down again somehow. Cordelia wasn't happy about it, but a kiss from Charlotte seemed to mend things. Oh, lesbians.  
"I guess it's my turn", Square Tie said. He'd refer to Marvin as whatever horrible item of clothing he was wearing. It was petty, but no one could stop him, so it didn't really matter to Whizzer.  
Marvin - Square Tie - handed Cordelia a card that simply had a rainbow on it.  
She read her message and giggled. "Awe, thanks Marvin. And, just so you know, I am aware."  
What cryptic messages was Marvin putting in his cards?

Next it was Trina's turn to receive her gifts.  
"Eight gifts? Are you serious?" Trina looked dumbfounded in the best way.  
"It's eight gifts for the eight nights of Hanukkah. Each gift is numbered, so you know when to open which." Mendel smiled at her so adoringly and softly, Trina's hardness lessened by a lot. Marvin glared at him. Whizzer took a victorious sip of wine.  
"I- I can't- I-" Trina stuttered as though her brain was short circuiting. Tears started shimmering in her eyes. "I don't deserve this", she whispered.  
"Of course you do", Mendel reassured her, leaning forward, putting his hand on hera. He didn't even notice Marvin shooting daggers at him. "You deserve everything good in this world."  
"I- really?", Trina stammered, still close to tears.  
"Of course you do, honey", Marvin echoed and cleared his throat.

He demonstratively put his arm around Trinas shoulders and pulled her close to himself. It was an incredibly awkward and desperately possessive move. Mendel seemed to remember, that Trina was Marvin's girlfriend and pulled away. Whizzer gave Mendel a subtle compassionate pat on the shoulder. Mendel sighed.  
The lesbians gave another one of their gifts together. It was a set of bath bombs from lush.  
"Awe, thank you!" Trina smiled contently.  
"We thought you could need a little relaxation", Charlotte joked. Everyone except Marvin and Trina chuckled. Trina's smile faded slightly and Square Tie started looking like the emotional embodiment of a tsunami.  
Marvin gave his first, and probably last, actual gift that night. At least he had his priorities straight - the only thing actually straight about him. It turned out to be a photo album with photos of them. Some included Charlotte and the most recent ones also occasionally featured Cordelia.  
"Oh, Marv. You're amazing." She smiled with just her lips before pulling Marvin in for a kiss. They never kissed passionately in public. Everyone present knew this. Everyone was understandably surprised and confused.

"Oh wow. Remember to use protection, kids", Charlotte joked.  
"Oh, we will. Don't worry", Trina replied with a smile.  
Marvin's eyes widened the slightest bit. Whizzer furrowed his brows in confusion. His eyes met Marvin's. His eyes turned strangely pleading. What the hell was he trying to pull?  
"Whizzer?" Trina looked at him with an analytical, expecting look. He snapped out of it.  
"Yeah? Oh. Right." Whizzer said as he handed her his small gift. "I hope you like it."  
He had put the keychain charm into a small box and put a bow on top. She unwrapped it and looked at it quizzically.  
"What is this?", she asked.  
"It's a charm for your keychain", he explained.  
"A crown? Why?" Trina furrowed her brows in confusion.  
"From one queen for another", Whizzer joked.  
"From one queen to another", Trina echoed quietly. She huffed out a laugh. The smirk she was trying to suppress was almost a smile. Whether it was genuine or cynical, Whizzer couldn't tell.

Next, it was Marvin's turn. Trina got him a set of two theater tickets.  
"You got me tickets for..." Marvin's jaw dropped. "Grease?"  
Jesus. Fuck. Shit.  
"Well, you kept talking about how much you loved seeing the show a while ago and I thought you might like the surprise." Trina smiled expectantly at Marvin. Her eyes clearly showing she was waiting for a kiss of validation.  
"Right." Marvin stared at the ticket.  
"So?" Trina's brows shot up until they were hidden behind her newly cut bangs.  
"I- I love it. Thank you so much. It's... such a... thoughtful gift. Really. I love it." Marvin closed his eyes as though bracing himself and kissed Trina. Trina once again didn't notice or chose to ignore it.  
"I should probably give you your gift, shouldn't I?", Whizzer asked.  
"Would be the polite thing to do", Marvin murmured.  
"Polite, huh? Because you're so polite", Whizzer spat.  
"Play nice", Charlotte reprimanded the two bickering men.

"Fine. Here's your gift *_sweetheart_*." Whizzer handed over his gift to Marvin, who scrunched his nose at the sarcastic pet name.  
It was definitely a petty choice to give Marvin a scented candle with the name "Zen" on it written in cursive capital letters. But, if he was being entirely honest with himself, Whizzer enjoyed the angered expression on Marvin's face. It showed that he'd gotten to Marvin in one way or another. Another victorious sip of wine.  
"Oh, how considerate of you", he said with cynicm and sarcasm so heavy, that every single person in this room became at least five pounds heavier from it.  
Trina gave Whizzer a confused look as if she had expected something different. What had she expected? Whizzer had to admit, he had no idea.  
Mendel's gift was a book on anger management. Whizzer, Charlotte and Cordelia all had to stifle their laughter.  
"I can't believe this. You actually did it. I meant it as a joke", Charlotte said as she was almost rolling on the floor with laughter.

Mendel was super salty. Damn.  
"Funny, right?", Marvin spat.  
When Marvin shot Whizzer a glare for laughing, he remembered why Mendel was so petty torwards Marvin in the first place. He stopped laughing. Another sip of wine it was. Was he getting tipsy?  
"Come on, Marv. It's all in good humor", Trina reassured her boyfriend and placed a kiss on his cheek. She didn't see him flinch. Nobody saw him flinch, except Whizzer.  
"Next you gotta open our gift", Charlotte said excitedly, trying to distract from the awkwardness that was this group and handed him a small package.  
She and Cordelia had bought him a CD of the original Broadway cast recording of the musical A Chorus Line. Whizzer had heard Marvin talk about the show before.  
"Wow." Marvin stared down at the gift with a genuine and soft smile.  
Whizzer turned away, deciding to pay attention to his glass of wine instead.  
"This is really nice", Marvin said.  
"You're welcome", Charlotte replied with a loving smile.

"I guess, I'm next by default?" Whizzer broke the silence.  
"Oh, I'm sorry. But I didn't get you a gift", Trina said. How she managed to seem genuinely apologetic was a mystery to Whizzer.  
"Oh that's fine", he replied with a tight smile. "You didn't have to. You still don't."  
"Let me buy you a coffee sometime, so I can make it up to you", Trina said and smiled at him. He didnt want to meet up with the girlfriend of one of his former flings, but he couldn't really refuse, could he?  
"Oh... Yeah. Sure. No pressure, though. Just let me know whenever you have time." Whizzer smiled back, mirroring Trina's expression.  
"I'll let you know, then." Trina's eyes had something analytical in them again.  
While maintaining eye contact with Whizzer, Trina put her hand on Marvin's thigh. Shit. She definitely knew. He was so fucked.

"Well, um... here's what I got for you, Whizzer", Mendel anxiously broke the silence. He gifted him two sets polaroid films for his camera.  
"Mendel, are you insane? Those are expensive as fuck!" Whizzer smiled widely.  
"You helped me out so much, it's only fair." Mendel replied. "You're such a good friend, you deserve something nice."  
But he wasn't. He wasn't a good friend. Or a good person.  
"Thank you so much, Mendel. Really."  
Cordelia and Charlotte had thrown their money together yet again and gotten a gift for him together.  
"I can't wait for you to open it", Cordelia smiled impishly.  
He couldn't believe his eyes when he saw what it was.  
"A Yankees letterman leather jacket? I can't believe you guys got me this!" Whizzer was grinning from ear to ear. It was pretty obviously Charlotte's idea, since Cordelia didn't care about sports at all.  
"I couldn't believe that you didn't already own one" Charlotte retorted. "I was kind of disappointed when Cordelia told me."  
"You right", Whizzer agreed, grinning so hard that his cheeks started hurting. He tackled the lesbians in a huge bear hug.

"I'm the last gift left, I guess", Marvin said.  
"You're right about that one", Whizzer replied.  
"So, here you are. Happy holidays. Whatever." Marvin basically threw the card at him.  
"Another Card. Thanks, *_Marvie_*", Whizzer replied. Marvin smirked back at him snarkily.  
After taking a breath, basically bracing himself for whatever the message might be, Whizzer opened the card. It read: *_"It's not up to me."_*  
What kind of cryptic bullshit was that? It's not up to him? Like fucking hell it's not! Whizzer was better at lying to himself than Marvin was at lying to others. Jesus fucking Christ. He took a huge gulp of wine, which emptied his glass.  
"Thanks, I guess? An empty card... very unique", Whizzer said sarcastically, fully intending on not giving Marvin any indication of emotion.  
"But-" Marvin furrowed his brows in confusion. He opened his mouth to say something, but quickly shut it.  
"You're welcome", he added after a beat.  
Trina smiled a strange smile he'd never seen on her. She was smiling like she had won. If she saw Marvin as a price to win, then he guessed, she did win something. Whizzer hadn't lost. Well he had lost something that night: the remains of his respect for Marvin. 


	15. The Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A pretty drunk Cordelia spills some secrets.

When Trina wasn't busy glaring at Whizzer, she was all over Marvin. She was basically vacuuming Marvin's mouth with hers. At one point Whizzer simply couldn't help himself from interupting the two lovebirds' trying to prove their relationship as functional..  
"Jesus, get a room, you two." Whizzer covered his eyes. "Let a queer enjoy his wine in peace." Trina sat up straight, unlike her confused looking boyfriend and looked nervously Whizzer for a few seconds.  
"Maybe we will." Trina grabbed Marvin's hand.  
"I guess, I should go", Mendel said as he took a look at his phone. "I still gotta pack pretty much all of my stuff. Don't wanna miss my bus home." Mendel got up and hugged a slightly tipsy Cordelia goodbye.  
They talked for a while and the straight couple became more and more handsy over time, so at one point Trina simply dragged Marvin out of the for some "private time" and left. Just thinking about her saying the words "private time" as an allusion to sex made Whizzer want to gag.

With Trina, Marvin and Mendel gone, it was just the (out and proud) gays left.  
"Trina was feeling herself tonight. Never saw her like that before", Charlotte commented and chuckled. Cordelia sat on her lap. The glass of white wine in her hand and her bubbly giggling made her look even more like Charlotte's trophy wife than she already did.  
"But isn't it nice to see Trina so affectionate with Marvin? Usually they barely even hold hands or kiss." Cordelia slurred her words slightly. The wine got to her. After a beat she added with a giggle: "They're gonna get busy."  
"I don't think anything will happen though." Charlotte stated a fact by saying this. Trina was just the type to be traditional. "Trina is pretty conservative. That's just who she is."  
"Well, I wouldn't be so sure about that. She seemed very determined", Whizzer said as he took a sip of his wine. Did he sound salty? He hoped to God or whatever higher power there was that he didn't.  
"Hey Whizzer!" Cordelia was slightly louder than she needed to be. She waved her wine glass around as she gestured for Whizzer to come closer. Surprisingly enough, no wine was spilled.

"Yes, Delia?" Whizzer moved closer and chuckled at how tipsy his best friend was.  
"Trina and Marvin haven't done anything. Nothin' below the neckline." Cordelia giggled even more now. Jesus, she should really put down her glass.  
But- If Marvin and Trina haven't- It probably meant- Which meant- Fuck that explained the entirety of Marvin's sexuality crisis.  
"Whizzer", Charlotte said, looking at him seriously. "This is definitely not her place to say. She can't know, Cordelia told you this."  
"Well, I'd say that's pretty obvious", Whizzer replied.  
"Whizzer is good at keeping secrets. Aren't you, Whizzer?" If Charlotte didn't take the wine away from her girlfriend, Whizzer would soon enough.  
"I'll keep my mouth shut", he reassured the exasperatedly fond looking lesbian. His phone started buzzing.  
"Good." Charlotte looked instantly relieved. His phone kept buzzing. He took out his phone.  
"Is that a guy messaging you?" Cordelia had a mischievous smile on her lips.  
Who the hell is calling him at this time of night?

Of fucking course. Marvin.  
"It is, actually." Whizzer gave the lesbians suggestive look to avoid any questions. Though, with Cordelia's inebriated state, they all knew it wouldn't last long.  
Whatever. Why was Marvin calling? Wasn't he busy screwing a girl for a change? For the first time in his oh-so-straight existence? Before Whizzer was finished deciding on whether he should take the call or not, it was too late. That's when he saw that a few guys had messaged him on Grindr. It was three, actually.  
The first guy was named Mason. 23, tall, dark and handsome. He might be interesting for a night-

"Whizzer" 09:13 pm - Marvin's message appeared at the top of the screen, breaking his train of thought.

Whizzer took a deep breath through his nose and looked further. Just ignore him, he told himself.  
Next guy was named Dennis. 20, blond, skandinavian looking. Too much of a twink. Not his type. When had he swiped him anyways?

"Pick up. I need to talk to you" 09:16 pm - Fuck you, Marvin, Whizzer thought and swiped away the message.

"Gimme your phone! Let me see the guy!" Cordelia made grabby hands like an eight year old.  
"Actually, it's three guys. And I haven't picked one, yet."  
"Then I can help you decide." Cordelia grinned. Charlotte rolled her eyes and gave her a kiss on the cheek, which made Cordelia giggle.  
"A minute." Whizzer pulled up his eyebrows.  
"Alright. Aaand go!", Cordelia prompted.  
The last guy was Jeremy. Dirty blond, kinda shaggy hair. Well built. Great eyes. Bingo.  
He shot the guy a message, asking where he lived.  
He immediately received a message from Jeremy. He lived pretty close. Whizzer let the guy know, he'd be there in half an hour at the latest.

"Please" 09:20 pm - Marvin texted him.  
He swiped away the message like he had the ones before it.

"No deciding left to do. Got my Mr. Right for tonight." Whizzer looked at Cordelia, knowing she'd appreciate the rhyme.  
"Show me!" Cordelia demanded with a wide smile. She squealed when Whizzer showed her the phone screen.  
"Go and get fucked, dear friend. You better tell me how it was after!" Cordelia rapidly got up and hugged her friend. "I'll tell you how it went here", she whispered in his ear. Whizzer couldn't help but smile.  
"I wouldn't leave right now, but I feel like someone wants alone time with you, Charlotte." That made the woman on the couch laugh. She got up from the couch and walked him to the door.  
"I'm not so sure. Maybe if she sobers up a little. But shhhhh. She doesn't need to know that." Charlotte was attacked with a hug from behind by an enthusiastic lesbian chef-to-be.  
"Do you know how cute you are?" Charlotte chuckled.  
"Do you know how cute *_you_* are?", Cordelia asked in response.  
"Guys, I'm gonna go now. You two have some *_private time_*." Whizzer wiggled his brows and laughed when Charlotte scrunched up her face in cringe.

To his one night stand's place it was.  
"Hey", Jeremy greeted him at the door.  
"Hey there", Whizzer greeted him back with a smile. He let him in.  
"So I was right", Jeremy said, giving him a once over.  
"About what?" He furrowed his brow.  
"I was right when I said I was gonna get an early christmas present." The flirty smile made Whizzer chuckle.  
"Where's the bedroom?" He asked with a smirk.  
"I'll show you." Jeremy nodded his head in the direction Whizzer presumed his bedroom to be in.  
"Lead the way", he said as he followed the man.  
An hour, a few hickeys and a set of sweat drenched bedsheets later, Whizzer sat on the edge of the bed, looking at his phone. "Wanna go for another round?", Whizzer heard Jeremy ask.  
There was another message from his mom. "Please call. I want to talk to you."  
Whizzer locked his phone and put it down.  
"Of course." Whizzer turned to the man, smiling.

He got back to his dorm room around midnight.  
"Hi", Mendel greeted him, closing his suitcase.  
"Hey", Whizzer greeted back.  
"I just got done packing", his roommate said.  
"I just got done screwing", he replied with a suggestive grin.  
"Then we both had a successful evening, I guess?" Mendel said, unsure whether it was the right response.  
Whizzer laid down on his bed, physically exhausted and ready for sleep. His mind and emotions, though, were running high and fast.  
This had been a clusterfuck of an evening. First, Marvin kissed him, then Trina was all over Marvin and acted all weird torward Whizzer... And then Trina dragged him off to- what? Have sex? On top of that... Marvin with his weird as fuck Christmas card. What even was Whizzer's life at this point?  
"Hey, Whizzer?", Mendel asked.  
"Yup?", he replied, opening one eye to look at his roommate.

"Was it just me or was something weird about the way Trina acted? And Marvin, too. He was all 'I'm a good boyfriend'. That felt so... off." Mendel said solemnly sitting at his desk.  
"Yeah, well..." Whizzer took a deep breath. "That's not where it ended, exactly." He sat up on his bed.  
"What? What happened?" Uh-oh. He should have just kept his mouth shut. Nothing new, then.  
"Trina basically dragged Marvin out for some 'private time' as she called it", Whizzer said, already knowing his roommate would feel about it.  
"Why would she do that?" Mendel shot up from his chair, which fell over.  
"They were making out hardcore and so, as a joke, I told them to get a room." Whizzer said in a nonchalantly jokey, yet still apologetic tone, avoiding any and all eye contact.  
"Whizzer, why did you do that?" Mendel was more hurt than Whizzer would have ever anticipated.  
"I didn't mean to. You know that." Whizzer looked at his roommate.  
"I know. It's just... Ouch, you know?", Mendel said, picking up the chair.  
"Yeah. I feel you", he said. If Mendel only knew.

"I just don't know what to think anymore. It seems like Marvin is cheating on Trina but then it's like nothing's ever happened and-"  
"But, Mendel. Isn't that just like Trina?", Whizzer asked.  
"Guess you're right", Mendel agreed, nodding thoughtfully. "She would rather kill herself than cause anyone any inconvenience." His roommate laughed bitterly.  
"I know you don't like how things are right now. I think you just need to be there for her as best as you can and move on", Whizzer said.  
"If it only was this easy. I'm just a neurotic, overwhelmed college student. I'm not equipped to handle this." The curly haired brunette laughed nervously.  
"You're studying psychiatry", Whizzer commented.  
"I never said I'd be a good one!" Mendel threw his arms in the air defensively. After a beat, both of them started laughing.  
"You'll be a fine psychiatrist", the taller man reassured his roommate.  
"Maybe." Mendel took a deep breath. "I think I'm gonna go to bed now."  
"Do that. Night." Whizzer nodded at his roommate and laid back down in his bed.

It has been a few hours now and Whizzer still hadn't managed to fall asleep. He was lying on his bed, his earplugs playing "Death of a Bachelor" by Panic! at the Disco. Really just Brendon Urie. He didn't care, though. The guy was hot. If he wanted to keep the band's name, Whizzer didn't really care.  
He was staring at his phone screen. His call history was littered with "missed" calls from Marvin and his mom. What was he going to do about all of this bullshit? How should he handle everything? What could he do, really? Especially Marvin.  
The guy didnt know how to take a clear and simple no. What was so hard to understand about that? And to kiss Whizzer despite all of his protests. At his friends Christmas party of all things...  
Worse than that, though... no, we wasn't going to think about it. We want going to think about how whole he had felt. That would make it all the harder not to call him. He wasn't going to think about how for just a second all of that pain from the past few days, weeks had gone away.  
If he spared even a single thought on it, he'd- Shit. His thumb hovered over the call button, very aware of how his roommate was only a few feet away.  
Before he knew it, he tapped the green call button icon.

*_Beeep_*

This was a bad idea. A horrible idea. Why had he called in the first place.

*_Beeep_*

He should probably just hang up. That was the right thing to do.

*_Beee-click_*

"Hello?", said the voice on the other end of the line.  
"Hi, Mom. It's me."


	16. We Wish You A Gay Hanukkah

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Whizzer comes home for the holidays.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because this is the finale for part 2 of this series, I decided to make it one bigger chapter rather than splitting it up into two smaller ones.

"Please come home for the Holidays", his mom pleaded. Whizzer was stunned for a second.  
"Mom... I don't think dad wants me home." What he actually meant was: I think I'm in actual danger if I happen to run into this man, who likes to call himself my father.  
"I want you here", she replied.  
"Are you sure about that?" Was she actually so intent on seeing him? Could she care this much?  
"Yes. I've had lots of time to think", she replied with a surprising amount of reassurance. "I love you and nothing will ever change that. Please come home. I will pay whatever if you can make it before the first night of Hanukkah."  
"That's tomorrow night. You know that, right?" She wanted to see him so soon? Well, with all the attempts at contacting him, it didn't even seem that unlikely.  
"I was hoping you would feel ready to talk to me earlier." Whizzer could hear her apologetic tone clearly. He couldn't help but feel guilty.  
"I am so sorry for everything. And I want to see you, so I can really show you just how sorry I am", his mother insisted.  
Whizzer took a deep breath, trying to decide. Despite his not wanting to admit it, he truly wanted to believe her. He sighed.  
"I'm taking the next bus. See you soon", he said.  
"Let me know when your bus arrives at the station. I love you, Whizzer."  
"Love you, too", he replied.

After Whizzer hung up, he realized that he had tears in his eyes.  
"Whizzer?" The man in question flinched before realizing it was his roommate, who had called out his name.  
"Oh... yeah?" He squinted, hoping to get rid of the tears brimming in his eyes.  
"Are you okay?", Mendel asked, sitting up on the edge of his mattress?  
"I-" Tears welled up in his eyes again.  
"Hey, what's wrong?" Mendel looked concerned.  
"Nothing", Whizzer said, smiling despite the tears threatening to roll down his cheeks.  
"Really? Doesn't seem like it", Mendel insisted. "It's okay to cry. You know that right? All of this emotional constipation isn't healthy."  
"No, really. I'm good." Whizzer was actually feeling happy, which was the mast thing he would have expected after a phone call with his Mom.  
"So, who called?" Mendel got up and sat down next to him.  
"Well, technically I called, but... It's my Mom", Whizzer said, smiling with a touch of disbelief.  
"What did she say?", Mendel asked.  
"She said she was sorry about everything."  
"Oh, that's amazing! So you should feel okay going to see her soon enough. I'm so happy for you!" Mendel hugged him encouragingly.  
"Actually, I'm gonna see both my parents in less than 24 hours. I'm going home for the holidays."

* * *

Whizzer hadn't expected to hear from his parents before the end of the semester. Maybe, he thought, he'd see him again at his graduation, if ever. Spending the holidays at his parent's house was the last thing he'd ever expected to happen. So you can imagine Whizzer's surprise at being asked to come home for the holidays.  
As he sat in the bus home, listening to music on Spotify, he felt anxious.  
He had no idea what to say. Neither to his mom, nor his dad. What could he say, really? He dreaded the idea of sitting around the dinner table. The silence. Oh God, the awful silence. His dad avoiding eye contact. His mom attempting to make everything slightly less uncomfortable.  
Rather than spending his time on the bus worrying, he tried distracting himself by focusing on the scenery passing by him.  
Whizzer couldn't stop his mind from wandering, however. He kept running through the phone conversation him and his mom had had the night before.  
His mom wanted to see him. She wanted to see him during the holidays and celebrate Hanukkah with him. Or at least their version of Hanukkah, which they'd had to change as to not interfere with his dad's Christmas celebration. He couldn't quite believe it.

Before he knew it, he stood in front of his childhood home. Well, it was more of an apartment complex with his childhood apartment in it, if one was being pedantic. Despite the fact that he still had the keys to his parent's place, he decided to ring the door bell and knock instead.  
After half a minute of calming his breathing, the door opened. And there his Mom was. He felt as relieved as he felt shocked. His mom looked exhausted.  
There were dark rings around her eyes, her cheeks had become more hollow than their usually defined appearance, her wavy hair looked frizzy and her smile looked like it took the last bit of her energy to muster. Nonetheless, her eyes clearly lit up as she saw her only son.  
"Whizzer!" She immediately wrapped her arms tightly around her son in a loving hug. She hugged him so tightly, the air was knocked out of his lungs for a second or two. "You're here!"  
"Hi, Mom", he replied with a smile.  
Whizzer would have normally rolled his eyes at his mom's eager greeting. Only, this wasn't normally. Hugging her, seeing her or even hearing his mom speak was something he hadn't been sure he would ever get the opportunity to do ever again. So he hugged her back as if his life depended on it.

"I'm so glad you're here", his mom said after she released him from her caring embrace.  
"Me, too", Whizzer reassured her.  
"Now, get in here", she said as she ushered him inside. "I'm sure you're thirsty. Let me get you a glass of water. Do you want a snack? I could make my banana carrot surprise!"  
"Mom, it's fine. I can get a glass of water myself. I've been taking care of myself for the past four months." Whizzer immediately knew, he'd said the wrong thing when his mom's eyes dimmed.  
"I know. I just want to show you how much I want you here. And I'm still your mom. I want to take care of you." She smiled sadly with some far away look in her eyes. Suddenly she seemed to snap back into reality, putting back on her smile. "How is school?"  
"Oh, school is fine. I'm doing alright. My professors seem to like me well enough", Whizzer smiled, surprised by the change of topic to simple small talk.  
"You *_are_* a nice young man", she said proudly. "I did raise you, after all."  
Whizzer chuckled. "That you did, Mom."

After insisting on getting him a glass of water and fixing him a little snack, they went to sit down at the kitchen table. Before even entering the kitchen, Whizzer could smell Rugelach baking in the oven.  
"It smells delicious in here", Whizzer said.  
"I've been cooking and preparing things all day. Just enough for the two of us, as usual." Whizzer's mom smiled proudly.  
"I'm so looking forward to the food", Whizzer said, grinning excitedly.  
"Just like every Hanukkah", she replied.  
"Can't help it. Your food is delicious every year", Whizzer playfully defended himself.   
His mom smiled at him when she seemed to remember something.  
"We haven't done anything with your room after you left, don't worry. It's just as if you'd never left. A bit cleaner, maybe. But I didn't really want to go further through your stuff after what happened." She trailed off as she realized she'd unintentionally mentioned The Thing. They were silent for a few beats.  
"I'm excited to sleep in my old room again", Whizzer lied, trying to steer the tone of the conversation to resemble something more pleasant.

"I'll open the windows to air out your room. I forgot in the excitement." She got up from the table. "You eat your carrots and hummus and I'll be back in a minute."  
Just as Whizzer picked up a baby carrot, wanting to take a bite, he heard the front door rattle. Whizzer knew that rattling. He knew the sound of the door being shoved open and slammed shut.  
Most of all, Whizzer knew the heavy footsteps, slowly but surely making their way to the kitchen. Whizzer sucked in air reflexively.  
He heard the steps pause. A quiet soft voice, then a gravelly low voice talking. He couldn't understand what was being said, but he knew, it had to be about his being there. There was a thump. Whizzers heart stopped for a second.  
The heavy footsteps distanced themselves until the front door was once again shoved open only to be slammed shut again.  
Whizzer realized, he still hadn't taken a bite from the carrot. He'd lost his appetite. He put down the carrot and waited for a minute. When his mom still hadn't returned after another few minutes, he went out into the hallway to see if she was doing okay.

He found his mom sitting on the floor, her back to the wall. She had her eyes squeezed shut and her knees pulled up to her chest. He could hear her breathing heavily.  
"Mom?", Whizzer's whisper broke the silence. She looked up to him, her eyes now wide.  
"Oh. I'm sorry." His mom shot up to stand, but had a hard time keeping her balance for a moment, swaying disorientedly. "Your father was just here. He- he had some errands left to run." She put on a comforting smile.  
"Are you okay? I heard a thumping sound", Whizzer inquired.  
"Oh, it's nothing. I stumbled backwards, because your father was in such a hurry." She smiled.  
"Mom, I'm not six anymore." Whizzer looked at her sternly.  
"He only pushed me against the wall. I'm fine." She took a deep breath and steadied herself against the wall. "Are you alright, honey?" Whizzer knew exactly what she meant.  
"I am."

They walked back into the kitchen and sat down at the table again.  
"Can I do something for you? To make you more comfortable?" Whizzer could tell, his mom was eager to distract herself.  
"I'm alright. But, I could help you cook, if you don't mind?", Whizzer offered. "I've been getting better. Cordelia and I baked a bunch of cookies and they were delicious."  
"That would be lovely! How is Cordelia doing?", she asked.  
"She's doing great." Whizzer grinned. After a moment of consideration, he added "Actually, she has a girlfriend. Charlotte. She's studying to be a doctor." With a slight amount of anxiety, he awaited her reaction.  
She smiled. "She deserves to be with a successful doctor."  
"Definitely." Whizzer smiled, too.  
They sat in the kitchen talking for a while.  
"Alright, then. We should get started." His mom got up from her chair and put on her favorite apron. "If you want to help me out with cooking, go wash your hands. I'll have no dirty hands in my kitchen."  
  


* * *

Whizzer had a really fun time cooking with his mom. That is, until, once again that night, they fell silent at the sound of the front door opened and closed.  
"It'll be fine", his mom said quietly. Before standing up and walking into the hallway.  
"Welcome back, honey. Do you want me to make you something for-"  
"I already ate something at the bar", his father's voice said decidedly. "I'm going to bed."  
"Oh. I just thought, you might want to sit down in the kitchen, maybe... tell me about your day", his mom's voice said.  
"Gwen, I'm tired", his dad said. "Night."  
A door, which Whizzer assumed to be his parents' bedroom door, was opened and shut just a few moments later.  
His mom reappeared in the doorway. She took a deep breath.  
"Your father doesn't know you're here", she said.  
Whizzer stared blankly at her.  
"What?", he asked.  
"I didn't tell him you were coming. I didn't think you would until last night." She smiled apologetically.

"So he doesn't know that I am here right now." Whizzer closed his eyes and breathed, trying to calm the nausea rising in his stomach.  
His mom rushed to sit down across from him.  
"I just wanted you here so badly. I missed you", she said.  
"But you know him. You what he's gonna think. The son he disowned is sitting in his kitchen." Whizzer could feel his breath become more and more shaky. He knew there were tears brimming in his eyes. He ignored them. "And you know how he's going to react. You know what he's going to say. We both know it."  
His mom smiled apologetically as she took his hand.  
"I love you. And nothing's ever going to change that, Whizzer. He doesn't get it. That's not his fault. But it isn't yours either."  
He writhed his hand out of her touch. He felt a tear starting to roll down his cheek, which he immediately wiped away.

"This isn't some acceptance contest", he said. "I wanted to come home because I miss you. But I wouldn't have wanted to be here if I'd known I'm not wanted."  
"But I do want you here", his mom insisted.  
"How about dad? He told me when we last spoke that he would pay for school, if, and only if, he never saw me again. Do you want to tell me that he will like me being here?" He crossed his arms, trying to keep calm.  
"Whizzer, honey." His mom trailed off.  
"It was nice seeing you, mom", he said, realizing there were more tears streaming down his cheeks. He stood up.  
He exited the kitchen to grab his bags and leave. This had been a stupid idea.  
"Please stay the night. You can take the bus tomorrow. Your father has a very long shift tomorrow", she pleaded, trying to be quiet. "Please. At least celebrate the first night with me."  
"I- I'm not sure if I can do that, Mom." Whizzer's voice was wavering. "I thought I could handle this, but I'm not so sure anymore."

"You don't have to stay until nighttime, but please stay the night." Whizzer knew, this was as close to begging as she would get. "It's cold out."  
"Mom, I-"  
"Goddammit. Whizzer, please!"  
Both of them were shaken at her voice's sudden increase in volume. His and his mom's eyes widened as they heard a bedroom door open.  
"Gwen, what's the ruckus you're making out here? What's- " His father trailed off. "Gwen, why is he here?"  
"Stanley, can we talk about this to-"  
"Why is he here?", he insisted.  
"I asked him to come", his mom said.  
"You", he pointed at Whizzer. "Go to your old room." Whizzer knew not to argue.  
"And you", he turned to face his wife. "Well talk tomorrow."  
Once again, he turned to Whizzer. "I want you gone by the time I get home from work. Otherwise, the deal is off. Understand?"  
"Yes." Whizzer looked numbly at the man, who was apparently his father.  
He almost mechanically turned and went to the room that used to be his.

His mom had been right. It *_was_* just like he'd never left. He scrutinized the room's interior. He looked at the walls covered in pictures he'd taken.  
He hadn't taken most of the things important to him. He hadn't anticipated to be thrown out, after all.  
Whizzer wanted to be angry at his mom. But he wasn't. He had missed her to a painful degree, so he couldn't really blame her for wanting to see him, could he?  
Even despite this, he couldn't help feeling just a little bit betrayed.  
Better now than never, he thought as he looked through the possessions of the person he used to be before the beginning of the semester. He picked one of his decorative storage boxes and collected his favorite and most important memories.  
He took the pictures of spontaneous trips with Cordelia, pictures of holidays, birthdays and other celebrations. Next came the cheesy BFF mix-CD Cordelia had given him for his birthday a few years ago.

After gathering his personal highlights into the way too small box, he looked at his phone for the first time since he entered the apartment. Time had really flown by. It was already 8 pm.  
He saw a few unread messages in his notifications.

"Hope you don't feel lonely by yourself"  
"I'm free after the 27th" - Cordelia  
Right, he had completely forgotten to tell her about the shortlived good news.

"How are the preparations going?" Mendel  
Well, he knew which message he'd take the longest to respond to.

Finally he stumbled over Marvin's messages, which he still hadn't answered. On top of that, he saw that the bastard had called him another three times that day.  
And as if on fucking cue, he called. the guy had a timing for the gods.  
Whizzer stared at the screen. Did he want to deal with this? Whizzer decided, he'd taken so much shit just now, he could handle a bit more. Maybe Marvin would finally leave him the fuck alone.  
So he took the call.  
"Yes, Marvin?", Whizzer said.  
"Hello, Whizzer." Marvin sounded taken aback. Had he really not expected Whizzer to pick up?  
"So, what do you want?", he asked the man on the other end of the line.  
"I broke up with Trina."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last chapter of part 2.  
Don't worry, though. Part 3 is already in the works.  
Stay tuned until then.


	17. What do you want me to do about it?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hanukkah didn't quite start the way Whizzer thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I felt that this chapter felt like a better finale to part 2 than the previous chapter, so this is the official end of part 2.

He must have heard wrong. Marvin wouldn't do this.   
"What?", Whizzer asked incredulously.   
"I broke up with Trina", Marvin repeated himself.   
"You broke up with Trina", Whizzer echoed.   
But that was impossible. He was having the most surreal experience in that moment. He was sat in his childhood bedroom on the phone with a guy he'd been screwing (whom he definitely didn't have feelings for). And that guy told him he broke up with his girlfriend.   
It was Marvin for fucks sake. Marvin. The same Marvin who had sex with Whizzer only to insist on being straight. The same Marvin who claimed to love Trina, but really meaning that he loved the control he had over her.   
"Yes", Marvin answered on the other end of the line. What did Marvin want?   
"Okay", Whizzer said.   
"So?" What the fuck did he want Whizzer to do? Did he want a fucking standing ovation?   
"Happy Hanukkah, Marvin. I'm gonna go now", Whizzer replied.   
"Whizzer wait-" The other man was interrupted by Whizzer hanging up the phone call.

Now, Whizzer thought he was confused before, but that was nothing compared to this very moment. So Marvin broke up with his Highschool sweetheart and- what? Expected a reaction from Whizzer? The gall of this guy.   
Whizzer found himself back in reality. He was still in his childhood bedroom, a box of memories in his lap. Quietly he cried, knowing that his goodbyes to his mom would be his last for quite some time. Today had not gone the way he had wanted it to. Just when he thought he was welcome in his childhood home, he was given a slap to the face by reality.   
Why had he expected anything else? Life always worked this way. Whenever he got his hopes up, he ended up disappointed, and usually alone. After packing some of his other clothes, leaving the ones he could live without, he decided to go to sleep instead of dwelling on his situation. He would reply to the messages tomorrow. Once he was back at his dorm, he'd hopefully feel more ready to let Mendel and Cordelia know what had happened.

Whizzer woke up, feeling disoriented for the most part. In a split second it all came flooding back and, before being properly awake, had to choke back tears collecting in his eyes, still red and puffy from last night. He sat up and wiped them away.   
It was 10:14 am. His father would be at work, so it should be safe to leave his room. He decided to stealthily make himself a cup of coffee. Despite his dad's absence, he was all too aware that his mom was probably around. He hadn't considered the possibility of his mom occupying the kitchen.   
He stopped in his tracks when he saw his mom bent over the kitchen table clinging to her cup of coffee. The floor creaked when he approached the doorway, because of fucking course it did. He internally kicked himself and winced at the unwelcome, sudden sound.   
His mom looked up at the sound, her eyes looking hopeful as they met his.  
Whizzer's mom was a wreck. That was the only word he could find for it, but even that seemed generous. A wreck was in pieces, but it was still a tangible mass. She looked almost transparent, like a sheen of dust that would disappear at the hint of a breath.

Her eyes were all sorts of puffy, swollen and red. Her usually vibrant golden irises were dull, and despite being wet with tears they were matte. Her nose looked red and sore. Her eyes and nose were the only hints of color in her face. Her cheeks were pale, almost matching her pale complexion.   
Her expression turned from hopeful to apologetic the moment she saw how he looked. Whizzer hadn't looked in a mirror yet, but then again, he didn't want to see how much his reflection revealed about him at that moment.   
Without a word, she poured a cup of coffee for Whizzer. He didn't say anything as he sat down. She had put some cream and sugar out for Whizzer to add to his coffee. He knew that was the case, because she only drank herbal tea, as she was right now.   
He sipped his coffee. She sipped her tea. They didn't say a word while sitting at the table. Even when they both had emptied their cups, they didn't speak. But they didn't get up, either. The knot in his stomach kept all possible feelings of hunger Miles away, so he wasn't going to eat anything. Despite this, he didn't want to get up. This was the last time, he'd be having breakfast with his mom like this.   
He looked at her, her eyes saying all of the things she wasn't saying. He knew what she was saying. He knew all of it. So he nodded. And he got up from the table.

When Whizzer saw that his next bus would leave within the hour, he made sure he had everything he'd brought the night before. Despite any previous uncertainty, he was glad that he had only brought a few items of clothing to mix and match rather than seven full outfits.   
It saved him space when packing and would save him energy carrying it all of the way to his dorm. He would have asked for help, but Mendel was already on his trip home, as was Cordelia. And, not that it was worth mentioning, Marvin probably wasn't home, either.   
Once he was finished making sure that his bags were all sorted, he set the three bags and the box down in front of his room. His baggage had doubled over less than a day of being back home. It was just as true in the literal sense as it was in the figurative sense. Funny how everything and nothing had changed over the past fifteen hours.   
For one last time he went to his childhood apartment's kitchen. His mother was still sitting at the kitchen table, still cupping her favorite tea mug.   
"Mom, I'm going now." It was definite, he knew this.   
He didn't want to leave. But he couldn't stay. And she seemed to finally understand.

"Take care of yourself", she says. She looked at him with a teary eyed smile.   
"I will." He smiles back at her with something he can only assume to be a reflection of her sad smile. He turns to leave, feeling not at all prepared to leave his home behind. Noone had ever told him that you'd lose your past when leaving for college.   
"Can you promise me one thing?", he heard his mother ask with only a slight tremble to her voice.   
He looks back at her and nods. "Of course."   
"Since I probably won't get to meet your next boyfriend", she said and took a breath. "Whoever he is, be smart."   
"I promise", he said.   
Before he had the chance to turn again, she rushed to hug him so tightly, he was afraid that his lungs would never expand again.   
"I'm sorry, Whizzer. I didn't know", his mom whispers.   
"I love you, Mom", he whispers his reply.

They stood there for another minute, embracing eachother like it was the last time. Because it was.   
"Mom, I'll miss my bus." Whizzer only realized he'd been crying when his words came out a choked and wavering mess of sounds. He wiped away his tears and forced an awkward smile to lighten the mood.   
"I love you so much. Never forget that." She attempts one last smile. The quivering of her lower lip would have betrayed her, if her puffy, red eyes and runny nose hadn't done the job beforehand.   
"I won't." He smiled at her. He would do his best not to forget it. He would try to remember how nice it had been to pretend that he could have a regular, loving family rather than the fucking mess life had dealt him.   
Whizzer kissed his mom on the cheek and hugged her one last time before leaving the kitchen. He slung the bags over his shoulders, took the box of memories and left the apartment.   
Barely in the elevator, Whizzer put on his calm mask. He'd be fine. Somehow - he didn't know how, yet - he'd be fine.

He still didn't want to tell Cordelia, even less than he wanted to tell Mendel. At the bus station he swiped through Grindr and some of his other apps to pass the time until the bus stopped at the station.   
A mostly slept through bus ride and half an hour of dragging his baggage to his dorm later, he was back.   
Well that was a shit show, he thought.   
Could things have gone any worse? Probably.   
Could it have gone better? Considerably.   
No matter how you looked at the previous night, it had been a pretty shitty experience. Finally he took out his phone and stared at Cordelias number in her contacts. Should he call her? In the end she'd be angry that he didn't tell her. It didn't seem to matter to her how much she would worry. He could always steer the conversation if he wanted. So he hit the call button.   
After the phone rang twice, she picked up.   
"Hey", she greeted.   
"Hi", he replied.   
"So what's up?"   
"Well I just called you to wish you a merry Christmas", he lied.   
"Thank you! Merry Christmas to you, too", she replied in her usually chipper tone.   
"Thanks", he said.

"Now why did you actually call?", she asked. Whizzer blinked.   
"What do you mean", Whizzer asked.   
"Why did you actually call me? I know you well enough to know theres something more here."   
Since she had quite literally called him out on his lie about why he called (not that he had made a great effort of hiding the fact that there was a bigger reason for calling), he basically had to tell her. Despite acting reluctant, he was really glad to have someone to tell.   
So he told her. He told her about calling his mom. He told her about the nice time he'd had. He told her about the fact that his mother had invited him without a word to his father. He told her about his last time seeing his mom. And he was definitely not about to cry by the time he finished.   
"Oh, Whizzer, I'm so sorry." She sounded like she was actually crying.   
Whizzer heard muffled talking and he heard Cordelia's muffled "No, I'm fine".   
"I'm sorry for bothering you. I shouldn't have called today. It's Christmas eve." Whizzer felt guilty and uncomfortable as hell.

"I'm glad you told someone. I'm glad you told me", she said. "I mean, that's what friends are for", she added in a sing song voice.   
Whizzer chuckled. "I love you. Do I say that enough?"  
"A little bit more never hurt anyone", she replied with a giggle.   
"I'm gonna let you celebrate now, Delia."   
"You can come over if you want. You're always welcome", she offered.   
"Oh, no. It's fine. I dont wanna impose", he replied.   
"Nonsense. I invited you just now", she corrected him.   
"It's fine. I think I wanna be alone for now."   
"You can come over if you want, though. You're family, remember?" Whizzer smiled at her sweet, comforting way.   
"Can I just let you know if I do decide to come over?", he asked.   
"Of course. I made way too much food as usual." Of course she made too much food.   
"Thanks", he said. "You should get back to celebrating."  
"Take care of yourself, alright? Love you", she said.   
"Love you, too", he replied.   
The call ended and Whizzer was alone again.

**Author's Note:**

> You made it! Let me know if you enjoyed the beginning of part two!


End file.
